With 10,000 or more bird species recognized, the task of giving each a distinctive English name is not inconsiderable. The historical laxness with which such old names as “chat,” “robin,” “bunting” have been applied to birds across  family lines is notorious, but there is also at least one case where a single English noun is still used to refer to birds in different orders.

Both the Recommended English Names of the IOC and the latest edition of Clements use the English noun “racket-tail” (or “racquet-tail,” if you’re a fan of quaint obsolete spellings) as the name of a hummingbird and of a genus of parrots (Prioniturus).

Booted Racket-tail, Ecuador. Photo: Rick Wright.

The glorious little Booted Racket-tail more than deserves both parts of its name. A common species of the subtropical and temperate Andes, this hummingbird is seen on many of our tours to Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru, where, as in the photo, it is readily attracted to feeders.

The Prioniturus parrots, in contrast, include some of the rarest birds in the world. Restricted to the Philippines and neighboring island groups, all of the nine or so species in this genus are sadly threatened by habitat loss and collecting.