This is one for people who like pointless exercises like me. The Magpie-lark is the bird with the most pointless name. It is not a magpie. It is not a lark. I have not capitalised the magpie because there are other magpies other than the Common Magpie that we call Magpie in Britain such as the Azure-winged Magpie. You may be thinking that a Bearded Titmouse has a pretty pointless name because it is a babbler (not a tit) and looks like it has a moustache (not a beard). I can see where the tit bit (no rhyme intended) came from because it is a small tit-like bird but I don't know where the bearded came from as it does have a tache. But with the Magpie-lark I can see where the magpie came from (it is pied) but not the lark. So these two equal each other. Also the Green-winged Teal has a pointless scientific (Latin) name: Anas cyanoptera. The word cyanoptera means "blue-winged". Cyano means blue and ptera means wing. Why not call the Blue-winged Teal this? The conclusion is there are plenty of pointlessly-named bird species.
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| Magpie-lark |
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| lark, this is a Crested Lark |
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| Common Magpie |
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| Bearded Titmouse (male) |
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