Twitchers' vocabulary

Twitchers watching a "mega"—Britain's fifth-ever white-tailed lapwing—and probably adding a "lifer" to their "list"; see text for explanation of italicised terms

Twitchers' vocabulary is the set of jargon words used by twitchers. Twitchers are committed bird-watchers who travel long distances to see a new species just to add a species their "lifelist", "year list" or other lists. Some terms may be specific to regional birding communities, and not all are used due to dialectic and cultural differences.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Terms

• Big Day: ^[3]A birding event in which a birder or team of birders tries to see as many species of birds as possible within a calendar day.
• Big Year: ^[3]A birding event in which a birder tries to see as many species of birds as possible within a defined area (county, state, ABA area, etc.) within a calendar year; originated with the American Birding Association, and the basis for the movie The Big Year.
• To burn up or flog:^[4] To beat around in the undergrowth hoping to flush a bird. A desperate measure and not a kind way to treat an exhausted migrant.
• BVD: ^[3]"Better View Desired", describing a lifer that was observed well enough to identify, but not enjoy.
• CBC: Christmas Bird Count.
• Chooks: Already seen or common birds (used in Australia).^[1]
• Crippler: A rare and spectacular bird that shows brilliantly, perhaps an allusion towards its preventing people from moving on.
• Dip (or dip out): To miss seeing a bird which you were looking for.
• Dude: "A posh bird-watcher who doesn't really know all that much about birds."^[4] A novice birdwatcher; slightly pejorative term. Also used to refer to someone who primarily seeks out birds for photography rather than study.^[1]
• Empid: Any of the flycatchers of the genus Empidonax, infamous among North American birders for being difficult to identify in the field without the aid of vocalizations.
• Fallout:^[3] A natural occurrence where migratory birds are forced down by adverse weather in a way that makes them congregate in large numbers; generally associated with meteorological and geographical conditions (exclusively in spring, generally in the United States along the Texas and Florida coasts of the Gulf of Mexico).
• First:^[4] A first record of a species (in a defined area, such as a county first).
• Grip (or grip off):^[4] To see a bird which another birder missed and to tell them you've seen it.
• Jizz: the overall impression given by the general shape, movement, behaviour, etc., of a species rather than any particular feature. Experienced birders can often identify species, even with only fleeting or distant views, on jizz alone.
• LBJ (or little brown job): ^[2] Drab songbirds that are difficult to differentiate and identify.
• Lifer:^[4] A first-ever sighting of a bird species by an observer; an addition to one's life list.
• List:
  • Noun: a list of all species seen by a particular observer (often qualified, e.g. life list, county list, year list, etc.). Keen twitchers may keep several lists, and some listers compete to amass longer lists than their rivals.
  • Verb: to keep or compile a bird list (lister is close in meaning to twitcher).
• Mega or megatick:^[4] A very rare bird
• Nemesis (or nemesis bird)" ^{[3] [2]} A bird that has eluded a birder despite multiple attempts to see it.
• Patagonia Roadside Rest Effect (or Patagonia Picnic Table Effect): ^[2] (US) The phenomenon that occurs when one bird draws many birders to a remote area, who then find more rarities and other interesting species in that same location. Named after an actual roadside rest area just west of Patagonia, Arizona.
• Patch (or local patch): ^[3]A birding location or set of birding locations near one's home that a birder visits frequently.
• Pelagic: (noun) A boat trip designed for birders to find open-ocean (pelagic) species, such as albatrosses.
• Pish: ^[3]An emphatic shushing noise used by North American birders to elicit mobbing behavior; made in imitation of alarm calls of chickadees and titmice.
• Plastic: Adjective used to indicate a bird which has escaped from captivity, rather than a genuinely wild bird.
• Sibe:^[4] A bird from Siberia (usually applied to rare migrants).
• Siesta time (also the doldrums): ^[2] (US) The period in mid-afternoon when birds (and therefore birders) are least active.
• Slash: ^[3] A term used to describe cryptic species pairs not identifiable to species (on a day list), ie. long-billed dowitcher/short-billed dowitcher, willow flycatcher/alder flycatcher
• SOB: ^[2] "Spouse of Birder", a non-birder spouse.
• Spark bird ^[2] A species that triggers a lifelong obsession with birding.
• Spuh: A term used to describe birds only identifiable to genus level (on a day list) (from "sp.", abbreviated form of species).
• String:
  • Noun: A dubious, "ropy" record.
  • Adjective: Stringy^[4]
  • Verb: to claim such a record.^[4]
    • ^[3]Note: In the United States, the term stringer is specifically used to denote people who intentionally mislead and falsify bird sightings, as opposed to well-intentioned mistakes made from lack of field experience.
• Tick:^[4] An addition to a personal list (sometimes qualified as year tick, county tick, etc.). Life tick and lifer are synonymous. A tart's tick is a relatively common species added to one's list later than might be expected.
• Twitch: The act of traveling a long distance to see a rare bird. Synonymous with chase.
• Vagrant: ^[2] A stray far from normal ecological range.
• Yank: A bird from North America (usually applied to vagrants seen in Europe).
• Zootie ^[3] (US, uncommon) A locally rare or unusual bird.

Some species have nicknames, for example: "RB Flicker" for red-breasted flycatcher, "Gropper" for grasshopper warbler, "PG Tips" for Pallas's grasshopper warbler; in the US, these are generally reserved for common species ("TV" for turkey vulture or "butterbutt" for yellow-rumped warbler). Twitchers (and birders in general) will also use a mixture of scientific and slang terms for feather tracts and so on.

References