Day 251 - Commonly Known Collective Nouns

Hey everyone, today's Day 251 and as yesterday was a small bit of a special occasion/milestone, I thought I would do another special post. When searching for facts for my posts, I found a website that is purely lists of collective nouns for birds. But of course I won't just be covering birds' collective words I will also be covering other animal's collective nouns too. It seems a lot of collective nouns have been born out of our folklore. I found an article on the Guardian website which describes a few origins of collective nouns from history or folklore.

So I thought I'd list a few of my favourites, here is the list - Part 1:

A

A rookery or a weight of Albatrosses
A shrewdness of Apes

Avocets at Washington WWT

A raft of Auks
A colony of Avocets

B

A Pretence, a Sedge or a Siege of Bitterns
A Bellowing of Bullfinches
A Wake of Buzzards

C

A Clutch of Chicks
A Brood,  Clutch or a Peep of Chickens
A Clattering of Choughs
A Covert or Raft of Coots
A Flight of Cormorants
A Herd of Cranes
A Horde, Hover, Mob, Murder, Muster, Parcel, Parliament or Storytelling of Crows
A Herd of Curlews

D

Collared Doves on my bird table

A Bevy (this also applies to Women), Dole, Flight, Piteousness or Pitying of Doves
A Dopping of Diving Ducks
A Plump of Flying Ducks
A Paddling, Flush, Raft, Sord, Team or Twack of Ducks
A Fling of Dunlins

E

A Congress or Convocation of Eagles
A Mob of Emus

F

A Cast of Falcons
A Charm, Trembling or Trimming of Finches
A Flamboyance or Stand of Flamingoes
A skulk of Foxes

G

Greylag Geese at Osmotherly

An Omniscience, Prayer or Pantheon of Godwits
A Drum, Troubling, Charm or Chirm of Goldfinches
A Gaggle of Geese
A Wedge,  Nide or Skein of Flying Geese
A Plump of Geese on Water
A Flight of Goshawks
A Covey, Lek or Pack of Grouse
A Bazaar of Guillemots
A Confusion of Guinea Fowl
A Colony or Screech of Gulls

H

A Cast or Lease of Tame Hawks
A Kettle of Hawks
A Brood of Hens
A Siege of Herons
A Bloat of Hippopotamuses
A Charm of Hummingbirds

A Jackdaw in my garden

J

A Clattering or Train of Jackdaws
A Band, Party or Scold of Jays

L

A Desert of Lapwings
A Bevy, Exaltation or Exalting of Larks

M

A Conventicle or Tidings of Magpies
A Sute or Sord of Mallards
A Richness of Martins

N

A Watch of Nightingales



Here is a link to some more:

British Bird Lovers - Bird Collective Nouns

There will be a Part 2, and possibly a Part 3, at some point as there are so many!

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.