by Ted Below
What? You don't know what bird these refer to?
Try Wood Stork, but you won't find any of those old local names in a modern book. If you looked in Howell.1932 "Florida Bird Life" or Sprunt1954 "Florida Bird Life" (an update of Howell), for the name Wood Stork, you would not find it. If in both, you looked at the list of ibises and went to the page given for Wood Ibis, you would find the only American stork; the one we now call, Wood Stork.
In the past, most of the birds we know were identified by a number of different names, this of course lead to considerable confusion. This has been resolved by the American Ornithologists Union (an organization of leading bird biologists) which publishes an "official" list of names, known as the AOU Checklist. They list two different names for each species; a common name (i.e. Wood Stork) and a Latin name (Mycteria americanna) which means the wood stork of the Americas). For most of us in the North America, Wood Stork suffices; but in other places these birds are known by many names in many languages.
To eliminate this obvious chaos, the Latin name applies world wide. For example; if you look under plovers in Braun.1970 "Birds of Europe," Black-bellied Plover will not be there. If you look for Pluvialis squatarola (Latin for Black-bellied Plover), you will find that in Europe the bird is called the Gray Plover.
Enough of this so called technical stuff! What I think is interesting and fun to speculate about, is how the local names apply to birds.
For instance; the names in the title are just some of the local names for Wood Stork. Why were they called, Flinthead, Gourdhead and Ironhead? Obviously, it's from the bare, featherless, black head of the Wood Stork. Well, how about Gannet; a Gannet is a seabird occasionally recorded on the coast of Florida, but not inland, both Gannets and Wood Storks are big, white, long-billed and have black in their wings, therefore sort of similar (ever notice about halfway across the Trail, the cypress strand called "Gannet Strand," named not for a seabird but for a wading bird that uses cypress). Then there is Preacher; storks stand straight and solemn and dress in white at least sort of like human preachers, I can understand that one. But, Spanish Buzzard, beats me.
Then there are names that we either wouldn't use today; like the N Goose (the N. word, for the black) that the locals called the Double-crested Cormorant (whose crests are only erected in the breeding season and are like Great Horned Owl ear tufts). And words that now have become common (at least on TV) but were not used in print years ago, so were sort of disguised by changing the spelling; as Sheitpoke or Shite Quick, for the Green-backed Heron who defecates when flushed.
Naturally, people added to the confusion (as they usually do) by giving different species the same name, like Summer Duck for Wood and Mottled Ducks (both of which are the only native ducks in Florida in summer). One on the names that takes the prize for local use is Curlew, Black or Bronzed Curlew for Glossy Ibis (White-faced Ibis were also called Black Curlew); White, Spanish, Stone Curlew for White Ibis (which was also just called Curlew or Chokoloskee Chicken) and Pink Curlew for Roseate Spoonbill (also called Pinks).
Probably, a very interesting book could be written about this, but I will quit here and leave you with a puzzle. What are the accepted common names of the following two old local names (not the same species): Hurricane Bird and Lady-of-the-waters?
First published in the Collier County Audubon Society's newsletter, Audugram, in April, 1996