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 first known collection of specific names for collective groups of animals, including many birds, was published in 1486 in The Book of Saint Albans, in an essay on hunting attributed to Dame Juliana Berners.[2][3]
Other books that are good references for collective nouns and their etymology include A Mess of Iguanas... A Whoop of Gorillas by Alon Shulman[4] and An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton.[5]
Contents |
Bird | Collective noun | Source/origin |
---|---|---|
Birds | Flock | Standard term |
Birds (small) | Dissimulation | [2] |
Bitterns | Siege/sedge | [2][6] |
Chickens | Peep/brood | [1][2][7] |
Choughs | Clattering | [1][2] |
Coots | Covert | [1][2] |
Cranes | Herd | [1][2] |
Cranes | Sedge | [6] |
Crows | Murder | [1] |
Curlew | Herd | [1][2] |
Dotterel | Trip | [1][6] |
Doves | Dole/dule | [2][6] |
Doves | Flight | [1] |
Ducks | Badling, or raft | [2] |
Goldfinches | Charm | [8] |
Geese (on the ground) |
Gaggle | [6][8] |
Geese (in flight) |
Skein | [1][8] |
Goshawks | Flight | [2] |
Guinea fowl | Rasp | [9] |
Hawks (tame) | Cast | [2] |
Hawks (tame) | Lease | [2] |
Herons | Siege/sedge | [2][6] |
Jackdaws | Train | [10] |
Lapwings | Deceit | [6] |
Lapwings | Desert | [1][2] |
Larks | Exaltation | [2] |
Magpies | Tidings | [2] |
Mallards | Suit/sute | [1][2] |
Mallards | Sord | [1][2] |
Nightingales | Watch | [1][2] |
Owls | Parliament | [6] |
Parrots | Pandemonium | [11] |
Partridges | Covey | [1][2] |
Peacocks | Muster | [1][6] |
Pheasants | Nide | [6] |
Pheasants | Nye | [1][2] |
Pigeons (flying together) |
Kit | [1] |
Plovers | Congregation | [1][2] |
Quail | Bevy | [1][2] |
Quail | Drift | [1] |
Ravens | Unkindness | [1][2] |
Rooks | Building | [1][2] |
Rooks | Parliament | [1] |
Snipe | Walk, or wisp | [1] |
Sparrows | Host | [1][2] |
Starlings | Murmuration | [1][2] |
Swallows | Flight | [1] |
Swans | Game | [1] |
Swans (in flight) | Wedge | [1] |
Teal | Spring | [1][2] |
Turtle doves | Dole/dule | [2] |
Woodcocks | Fall | [1][2] |
Wrens | Herd | [1][2] |
Bird | Collective noun | Source/origin |
---|---|---|
Birds | Volery | Originally an aviary, later the birds within[12] |
Poultry | Run | Simply not a collective noun |
Curlews | Head | Mistaken for herd |
Doves | Prettying | Mistaken for pitying |
Partridges | Bew | Possibly a mistake for bevy |
Penguins | Rookery, or raft | Not a collective term, depends on location (land/sea) |