How many different ways can we say red? For birders, there’s almost no limit for the ways we can name and describe redbirds. Here are the 19 shades of red we we use in the names of U.S. and Canada’s redbirds.
The Basic Red
1. Red. Just red. As in Redhead, Redstart (who’s not really red-tailed, which is what the name originally meant), Red-tailed Hawk, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red-winged Blackbird, and many, many others. With all the other options available, it makes you wonder if the namers weren’t a little lazy when they named the “red” birds. After all, the red of a Red-tailed Hawk’s red tail looks nothing like the red in the wing of a Red-winged Blackbird.
The Almost Redbirds
2. Reddish. When “red” won’t do, but you can’t decide what shade of red best describes a bird. Here’s to you, Reddish Egret!
3. Rufous. An uncommon word that I’ve never heard anyone but a birder mutter. As in Rufous Hummingbird and Rufous-crowned Sparrows, but more frequently used as a descriptive of bird plumage (e.g., the undertail coverts of a Bohemian Waxwing). And guess what. “Rufous” also means reddish. So here’s to you, Rufous Egret!
More Red than Redbirds
4. Scarlet. Only one bird is the feathered embodiment of a shade of red more red than red itself: the Scarlet Tanager.
5. Vermillion. A distant second to the Scarlet Tanager? The Vermillion Flycatcher. Vermillion is a bright reddish orange color, and the flycatchers that carry this word practically glow vermillion.
The Healthiest Reddish Bird
6. Ruddy. The healthy reddish color of someone chopping wood on a cold New England winter morning. Or that of a Ruddy Turnstone or Ruddy Duck.
The Latin Reds
7. Cardinal. Not quite scarlet, but red enough. Like the red of the robes of Catholic Cardinals, which, for some reason, we’ve decided we need to memorialize in Northern Cardinals.
8. Pyrrhos, a Latin word meaning reddish or orangeish, which, for some reason, we’ve decided we need to memorialize in the common name for the Desert Cardinal (Pyrrhuloxia). We owe it to Europe’s Bullfinch.
The Reds of the Natural World
9. Rosy, more pinkish than red. See the three Rosy-finches. And some old names for House Finches.
10. Rose, somehow slightly more reddish than the pink of rosy. Confused? See the Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
11. Roseate. Another variant on rose or rosy, used for the Roseate Spoonbilly.
12. Ruby, the dark red of the stone called ruby. Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but only at certain angles and in the right light.
13. Fox? I know what you’re thinking: fox isn’t a color. But for the default population of Fox Sparrows, the “Red” Fox Sparrow, it is, given that the bird’s color is typically compared to the color of a Red Fox. So a “Red” Fox Sparrow is actually just a bit redundant.
🔥 Birds
14. Flame. Just touching the US in southern Arizona is the Flame-colored Tanager. This is an orange-red tanager with a name, but not color, that outdoes the Scarlet Tanager.
15. Flamingo. Those massive pink birds who fanned out across the US after Hurricane Idalia? The root of their name is a Latin word for flame. The word is now also means the color of those massive pink birds.
16. Flammulated, maybe. The Oxford English Dictionary has the word meaning reddish. Merriam-Webster has it meaning “having flame-shaped markings.” Happily for us, the Flammulated Owl has flame-shaped reddish markings on its face (according to Wikipedia) and back (according to the American Bird Conservancy).
Too Many Brownish Reds
17. Ferruginous, like the color of iron rust. As in Ferruginous Hawk.
18. Rusty. Maybe. The Rusty Blackbird likely doesn’t get its name from their rusty door hinge call, but rather their rusty winter plumage. Is it brown? Is it brown-red? Most descriptions just say “rusty,” and the color “rusty” looks red enough to me. You decide.
19. Cinnamon. Merriam-Webster describes cinnamon as a brownish-yellow. But the Cinnamon Teal, who can’t get enough of colors apparently, is certainly as red as brown.
20. Chestnut. More of the same color scale — reddish, brownish, reddish-brownish. Lovely birds are the Chestnut-sided Warbler (or ought it be the Yellow-headed Warbler?) and Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
21. Bay. Wait. What? Bay? Yep, bay is a color. And what color is bay? You guessed it. Reddish brown. Enter the Bay-breasted Warbler.
22. Fulvous. Wait. What? Fulvous? Yep, fulvous is a color. It ranges from brown-yellow to brown-red. Allaboutbirds describes Fulvous Whistling-Ducks as a “rich caramel-brown” in color. Birds of the World affirms “reddish brown edging” to some feathers. To my eyes, there’s enough reddish — and certainly more reddish than yellowish — in the brown to warrant inclusion here.
Really? Not really, but maybe.
23. Baltimore. Okay. Not really. But hear me out. Baltimore Orioles were apparently named for their resemblance to the red-gold-and-black colors of the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore. This is not one the American Ornithological Society is planning to change, as they consider the name to refer to a place (the city of Baltimore) and not the person.
Future Redbirds?
The American Ornithological Society is currently revising eponymous bird names. Might they be introducing new shades of red? Perhaps the Say’s Phoebe — with their “cinnamon” belly — might become the Sunrise Phoebe, as one Colorado birder suggests. Perhaps those incredible reddish-brown shoulders of the Harris’s Hawk will come to define it.
Who knows. But here’s to the hope of some new shades entering the lexicon of birders.
Header Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
Geoff Stacks helped this post along. Much thanks.
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