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ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
Wed Jun 19, 2019, 08:56 PM Jun 2019

You Birders Are Indecisive! What's the Collective Noun for Robins?

There are so many robins around at the moment, gracing our gardens, parks and woodlands with their songs and territorial squabbles and bright bursts of cheery redness, that I couldn’t help but wonder what collective noun is used for the robin. So, I googled, and found two different lists, though both had many of the same words. The British Bird Lovers website says their list was chosen by members of their Facebook page, though I’m not sure when that occurred, and the Bird Guides website reports on a poll conducted by BTO and the Sunday Express in 2011, where members of the public gave their suggestions.

This is the combined list, accompanied, of course, by lots of photos of cute robins because you can never have too many robins! Which name is your favourite?

a round of robins
a breast of robins
a blush of robins
a bobbin of robins
a carol of robins
a gift of robins
a reliant of robins
a riot of robins
a rouge of robins
a ruby of robins
a rabble of robins
a red of robbins
a squabble of robins
a rash of robins
a hood of robins

https://earthstar.blog/2016/04/01/a-collective-noun-for-robins/


I may have to go with a reliant of robins because:

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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You Birders Are Indecisive! What's the Collective Noun for Robins? (Original Post) ProudLib72 Jun 2019 OP
A ward. Harker Jun 2019 #1
You keep quiet you turkey, or I'll put you in the rafters ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #2
(insert realistic gobble gobble sound here) Harker Jun 2019 #3
"Rafter" is the collective noun used for a bunch of turkeys ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #4
My favorite is... 3catwoman3 Jun 2019 #5
A peep of chickens ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #7
I like "a glaring of cats." The Velveteen Ocelot Jun 2019 #12
A pounce of cats ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #22
A murder of crows Sanity Claws Jun 2019 #6
It's only a murder if there's probable caws. Laffy Kat Jun 2019 #37
An unkindness of ravens Brother Buzz Jun 2019 #8
Personally, I like ravens ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #10
A parliament of owls sarge43 Jun 2019 #13
A congress of turkeys, maybe? Harker Jun 2019 #18
It's a trap! ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #23
Only if the Robin is also a Dick. n/t sl8 Jun 2019 #15
I've seen a few tough, aggressive ones lately. n/t Harker Jun 2019 #19
But those are European robins. The Velveteen Ocelot Jun 2019 #9
What's the collective name for a group of unladen swallows? ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #11
African or European? Marthe48 Jun 2019 #16
A chug. n/t Harker Jun 2019 #17
One of the commenters provided us with, "'A Batman of Robins" sl8 Jun 2019 #14
I'm sure you knew this, but if not..... Fla Dem Jun 2019 #20
A jar of nuthatches ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #21
Hey. Two of my best friends in Colorado Harker Jun 2019 #24
In Durango, they tried their damnedest to peck holes in my house ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #25
We had a cabin on Storm Mtn. Harker Jun 2019 #30
A hummingbear, huh ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #31
Those glass things with red Harker Jun 2019 #32
I found a hummingbear! ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #33
Damn! Harker Jun 2019 #35
Yeah, that's another thing they do: hammer on metal ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #36
OMG, I used to have one wake me up every damn morning, same time. Laffy Kat Jun 2019 #38
They're elegant Harker Jun 2019 #39
"An asylum of loons." Ohiogal Jun 2019 #26
Also a "cry of loons" ProudLib72 Jun 2019 #27
Baskin of Robins Rollo Jun 2019 #28
The robins in my back yard seem rather solitary, Can't remember ever seeing them flock. Rollo Jun 2019 #29
They're pretty territorial Harker Jun 2019 #34

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
4. "Rafter" is the collective noun used for a bunch of turkeys
Wed Jun 19, 2019, 09:25 PM
Jun 2019

A rafter of turkeys.
An unkindness of ravens.
A kettle of hawks.

I likes me some collective nouns for birds.

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
10. Personally, I like ravens
Wed Jun 19, 2019, 11:36 PM
Jun 2019

They are intelligent and mischievous. I welcome that in a bird. I feel like we are on the same side.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
13. A parliament of owls
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 06:05 AM
Jun 2019

A charm of finches
A company of parrots
A siege of herons
A convocation of eagles

Or a cast of hawks

One I thought of: A confusion of cockatiels

sl8

(13,584 posts)
14. One of the commenters provided us with, "'A Batman of Robins"
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:39 AM
Jun 2019

First comment on the linked site:

Olly said:

I asked this question as part of our Christmas quiz (“what should the collective name for robins be?”) and my grandmother absolutely smashed it with:

‘A Batman of Robins’

Fla Dem

(23,352 posts)
20. I'm sure you knew this, but if not.....
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 10:12 AM
Jun 2019
What do you call a group of Robins? A 'ROUND' of Robins. Even though Robins are notoriously anti-social, they do occasionally come together, as they did in a BTO Garden BirdWatch Garden this winter, prompting the search for a collective noun for Britain's national bird.Jan 12, 2011
What do you call a group of Robins? A 'ROUND' of Robins | BTO ...

https://www.bto.org/community/news/.../what-do-you-call-group-robins-‘round’-robins


And just in case you're wondeing about other birds...........

Special Flock Names
When a flock consists of just one type of bird or closely related species of birds, specialized terms are often used to describe the group. The most colorful and creative flock names include:

Birds of Prey (hawks, falcons): cast, cauldron, kettle
Bobolinks: chain
Buzzards: wake
Cardinals: college, conclave, radiance, Vatican
Catbirds: mewing
Chickadees: banditry
Chickens: peep
Cormorants: flight, gulp, sunning, swim
Coots: cover
Cowbirds: corral, herd
Cranes: herd, dance
Creepers: spiral
Crossbills: crookedness, warp
Crows: murder, congress, horde, muster, cauldron
Doves: bevy, cote, flight, dule
Ducks: raft, team, paddling, badling
Eagles: convocation, congregation, aerie
Emus: mob
Finches: charm, trembling
Flamingos: flamboyance, stand
Frigatebirds: fleet, flotilla
Game Birds (quail, grouse, ptarmigan): covey, pack, bevy
Geese: skein, wedge, gaggle, plump
Godwits: omniscience, prayer, pantheon
Grosbeaks: gross
Gulls: colony, squabble, flotilla, scavenging, gullery
Herons: siege, sedge, scattering
Hoatzins: herd
Hummingbirds: charm, glittering, shimmer, tune, bouquet, hover
Jays: band, party, scold, cast
Kingbirds: coronation, court, tyranny
Kingfishers: concentration, relm, clique, rattle
Knots: cluster
Lapwings: deceit
Larks: bevy, exaltation, ascension, happiness
Loons: asylum, cry, water dance

more>>>>>>>>>>
https://www.thespruce.com/flock-names-of-groups-of-birds-386827


Google is your friend

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
21. A jar of nuthatches
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 12:41 PM
Jun 2019

Those little buggers are annoying and peck holes in the side of your house, so I'm going to call them an "annoyance of nuthatches."

Harker

(13,880 posts)
24. Hey. Two of my best friends in Colorado
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 01:56 PM
Jun 2019

were Beaky and Igor (eyegore), pygmy nuthatches. No pygmies in PA. Sniff.

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
25. In Durango, they tried their damnedest to peck holes in my house
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 04:41 PM
Jun 2019

I would shoe them away. Ten seconds later, they would be back. They are little stinkers! Flickers do more damage, but nuthatches are persistent.

Harker

(13,880 posts)
30. We had a cabin on Storm Mtn.
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 05:39 PM
Jun 2019

One early morning I awoke to the sound of a hummingbear ripping the siding off. He was clean through to the drywall in the kitchen when I scared him off.

Juvenile punk.


Harker

(13,880 posts)
32. Those glass things with red
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:11 PM
Jun 2019

sugar water... hummingbear feeders. They guzzle the stuff, and they'll rip them off from dizzying heights.

Flickers out here are yellow, rather than red, shafted.

We have jars of white-breasted nuthatches, but red-breasted are infrequent.

A quiver of flickers?

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
33. I found a hummingbear!
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:17 PM
Jun 2019


The flickers I've seen have been sort of sandy brown and mottled: the northern flicker. I volunteer a "fuck you" of flickers. They are obstinate birds!

Harker

(13,880 posts)
35. Damn!
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:26 PM
Jun 2019

They're as difficult to photograph as jackelopes!

The colorful 'shafts' are in the tail. There was one on the CU campus for a couple of years running that hammered on the metal housing of a street lamp during mating season. He could be heard from quite a distance.

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
36. Yeah, that's another thing they do: hammer on metal
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:50 PM
Jun 2019

WTF? I had a dude come out and put up a piece of sheet metal to cover a flicker hole. He said the flicker might come back and try hammering anyway, but it was going to ruin his beak. I was fine with him ruining his little pecker!

Laffy Kat

(16,356 posts)
38. OMG, I used to have one wake me up every damn morning, same time.
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 09:40 PM
Jun 2019

I kept wondering which neighbor was using a jackhammer so early before I figured it out. It was right on the side of my house next to my bedroom. It still visits from time to time. I do enjoy watching them from afar, however.

Harker

(13,880 posts)
34. They're pretty territorial
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:17 PM
Jun 2019

and, as you noted, not flockers. I see an occasional dust-up, but they're decided pretty quickly, and the loser scrams.

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