Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus) by Ian

I have been busy working on the Birds of the World pages for their Orders and Families. I think I have them all done at least as far as I know. They are linked together and I hope to have some better Indexes and then start putting in some more pictures and information to go with each. Considering that there are over 10,300 birds, I may be awhile. Actually, the 224 bird families are the most important. So, that will be the starting place.

While doing all this, I have been amazed at the English names of the birds. I will be forthcoming in a blog about them. I want to find out more. For now, here are a just few of interest:

• Antbird, Antwren, Antthrush, Antvireo, Antshrike, Flyrobin, Grasshopper Warbler (are all these small?)
• Babblers, Chats, Chatterer (do they talk too much?) or Screamer?
• Bee-eater, Berryeater, Berrypecker, Flycatcher, Flowerpecker, Flowerpiercer, Fruiteater, Honeyeater
• Gnatcatcher, Gnateater, Gnatwren
• Bellbird (does he ring?)
• Butcherbird (does he run around with a meat cleaver?)
• Friarbird (does he have a special collar?)
• Cuckoo, Cuckoo-Dove, Cuckoo-Hawk, Cuckooshrike, Drongo-Cuckoo, Emerald Cuckoo
• Dollarbird, Catbird, Cowbird, Sunbird, Figbird, Grassbird, Mousebird, Honeybird
• Fantail, Flufftail, Firetail, Finfoot, Forktail
• Go-away bird

Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus) by Ian

See what happens when you play around with too much data. The Bible says that Adam named all the critters, and there probably was not 10,000+ bird species at that time, but it would have been interesting to see what the first birds were called. It would also be interesting just to know how many “kinds” there were.

“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19 NKJV)