List of collective nouns for birds

The standard collective noun for a group of birds of any type is a flock.^[1]

For a number of individual birds, there exist collective nouns particular to the type of bird. Many of these collective nouns are fanciful and not in common use in English. The book A Mess of Iguanas... A Whoop of Gorillas by Alon Shulman is a good reference for the collective nouns and their etymology. James Lipton's book An Exaltation of Larks is devoted to these collective nouns, many of which originated as hunters' terms and have been in the language for centuries.

Standard English Terms and Terms following the Middle English tradition

Bird	Collective noun	Source/Origin
birds	A flock of birds	Standard term
birds (small)	A dissimulation of birds	[2]
bitterns	A siege/sedge of bitterns	[2][3]
chickens	A peep/brood of chickens	[1][2][4]
choughs	A clattering of choughs	[1][2]
coots	A covert of coots	[1][2]
cranes	A herd of cranes	[1][2]
cranes	A sedge of cranes	[3]
crows	A murder of crows	[1][1]
curlew	A herd of curlews	[1][2]
dotterel	A trip of dotterel	[1][3]
doves	A dole/dule of doves	[2][3]
doves	A flight of doves	[1]
ducks	A badling or raft of ducks	[2]
goldfinches	A charm of goldfinches	[5]
geese (on the ground)	A gaggle of geese	[3][5]
geese (in flight)	A skein of geese	[1][5]
goshawks	A flight of goshawks	[2]
guinea fowl	A rasp of guinea fowl	[6]
hawks (tame)	A cast of hawks	[2]
hawks (tame)	A lease of hawks	[2]
herons	A siege/sedge of herons	[2][3]
jackdaws	A train of jackdaws	[7]
lapwings	A deceit of lapwings	[3]
lapwings	A desert of lapwings	[1][2]
larks	An exaltation of larks	[2]
magpies	A tidings of magpies	[2]
mallards	A suit/sute of mallards	[1][2]
mallards	A sord of mallards	[1][2]
nightingales	A watch of nightingales	[1][2]
owls	A parliament of owls	[3]
parrots	A pandemonium of parrots	[8]
partridges	A covey of partridges	[1][2]
peacocks	A muster of peacocks	[1][3]
pheasants	A nide of pheasants	[9]
pheasants	A nye of pheasants	[1][2]
pigeons (flying together)	A kit of pigeons	[1]
plovers	A congregation of plovers	[1][2]
quail	A bevy of quail	[1][2]
quail	A drift of quail	[1]
ravens	An unkindness of ravens	[1][2]
rooks	A building of rooks	[1][2]
rooks	A parliament of rooks	[1]
seagulls	A colony or wreck of seagulls	[1]
snipe	A walk or wisp of snipe	[1]
sparrows	A host of sparrows	[1][2]
starlings	A murmuration of starlings	[1][2]
swallows	A flight of swallows	[1]
swans	A game of swans	[1]
swans (in flight)	An wedge of swans	[1]
teal	A spring of teal	[1][2]
turtle doves	A dole/dule of turtledoves	[2]
woodcocks	A fall of woodcocks	[1][2]
wrens	A herd of wrens	[1][2]

Spurious, Unverified and Misapprehended Terms

Bird	Collective noun	Source/Origin
birds	A volery of birds	Originally an aviary, later the birds within[10]
poultry	A run of poultry	not a collective noun
curlews	A head of curlews	mistaken for herd
doves	A prettying of doves	mistaken for pitying
partridges	A bew of partridges	? a mistake for bevy
penguins	A rookery of penguins or A raft of penguins	not a collective term, depends on location (Land/Sea)

See also

• List of animal names
• List of collective nouns

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai} "What do you call a group of ...?". Oxford Dictionaries. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae} Berners, Dame Juliana (1881 reproduction) [First published 1486]. The Boke of Saint Albans. Introduction by William Blades. London: Elliot Stock. http://www.archive.org/details/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} "Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of.....?". U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
4. ^ Bergford, Paul. "Collective Nouns for Birds". Palomar Audubon Society. http://palomaraudubon.org/collective.html. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "AskOxford: G". archived copy of Collective Terms for Groups of Animals. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. http://replay.web.archive.org/20081020120740/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/collective/g/. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
6. ^ Lieut.-Colonel B. G. Lynn-Allen (1951). Shot-gun and Sunlight - The Game Birds of East Africa. Batchworth Press. 
7. ^ Gilbert White - The Natural History of Selborne London: N. Hailes, 1833. p. 163.
8. ^ [http:/www.parrotparrot.com/articles/fun-play/a-pandemonium-of-parrotsi/] parrotparrot.com
9. ^ [1] morewords.com
10. ^ "volary" The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 4 April 2000 <Registration required, retrieved 22 January 2010.>

External links

• A list of collective nouns for birds