Why All the Parrot Name Confusion?

[Michael]

It beats the hell out of me why some parrots carry so many different names and why people continue calling them inaccurately? It really frustrates me when someone is telling me about the type of parrot they have and then I go to look it up (in my parrot encyclopedia) and then can't find it because the name they gave is not the correct name. Then I have to search the internet for some source that uses both the correct and incorrect name to find the species or correct name to go back to look up. This makes it very difficult to keep on the same page.

The issue between Monk Parakeet vs. Quaker is just one of them. Now I know that both are one and the same bird but when I was newer to parrots, I thought it was two different kinds and I would get so confused. At one point I thought there were feral populations of Quakers and Monks at once. Most of these name differences I overcame by seeing similar pictures of differently called birds or through reading. But it still frustrates me to hear new bird types and then get confused like this.

It can be debated which is the "correct" name by all means, however, there is a scientifically accepted name which is used in all the literature and then there's the popular name. I understand that everyone would like the opportunity to name a species but this just creates so much confusion.

I am going to list some of the situations I know of where there are multiple names and I'd be curious to know the origins of the names and why there exist different names for them. I will list what I understand as the proper name on the left and the often used common name on the right:

Budgerigar - Parakeet (this one bugs me to no end because there are 90+ species considered parakeets and it makes no sense to call one type of parakeet just that)
Monk Parakeet - Quaker Parrot
Caique - Black Capped Parrot/White Bellied Parrot
Galah Cockatoo - Rose Breasted Cockatoo
Little Corella - Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Blue and Yellow Macaw - Blue and Gold Macaw

For instance I once heard mention of a blue and yellow macaw and I thought it must be different from blue and gold because I had also heard of blue throated. So it turned out that what I had been calling blue and gold all along really is blue and yellow. But these kinds of naming mishaps lead to so much confusion. Another one was when I heard American Parakeet. That one really threw me cause I'd never heard of a living native parakeet to the US and I was hearing stuff about American Parakeets. I really have no idea where that one came from!

Personally I do not care much for the debate about the names like which sounds nicer or which came first. I just prefer a commonly agreed on name be used so that I could understand what is being discussed and do further research.

I'll be the first to admit that I've used the wrong terminology out of not knowing any better and even still I sometimes say the wrong thing cause I learned the wrong one first and did not learn the scientifically accepted name until I started doing more reading/research about parrots. Here is one that I admit to making very recently: I have been talking about searching for a Cape parrot when really I am looking for an Uncape parrot. To make things more confusing there are two subspecies of Uncape parrot which are called the Brown Necked Parrot and the Grey Headed Parrot. It is not even clear if the Uncape is truly a different species than the Cape parrot. So this one is still up for debate. However, to the best of my knowledge all of the "Cape" parrots in captivity in the US are all actually from the Uncape subspecies groups.

At this moment I would just like to bring this forth for discussion and see if other people have been confused by name differences, if they are guilty of using the wrong name, what they consider to be the right/wrong name, what the naming standard should be, etc. If anyone knows about the history of the ways they were named, I'd be curious to know.

[triplebbirds]

Yes but then you also get to add regional differences into the mix. I was going to point out the cape issue to you. I had to admit being unfamiliar with them had to look them up. and found i believe 4 different names for the same birds.

[miajag]

I'll admit I got confused a couple times when first learning about parrots - Blue-and-Gold vs. Blue-and-Yellow got me, as did budgie vs. parakeet and parakeet vs. conure. As I said in the other thread though, while the common name may be different from the scientifically accepted one, that does not mean it is "inaccurate" or "incorrect." Scientists may call them Sun and Monk Parakeets, but nearly everyone who owns, breeds or sells them calls them Sun Conures and Quaker Parrots, respectively. When the vast, vast majority of people knows them by one name, you can't say they're "incorrect." That's simply how language works, for better or worse. Getting "really frustrated" over stuff like this is just going to give you an early heart attack.

[pchela]

Well, as far as the Caique is concerned, there are different sub species one being the Black Headed Caique and another the White Bellied Caique. There is also a Pallid Caique and a Green Thighed Caique.

I've only ever heard a Blue and Gold Macaw as that... I've never heard Blue and Yellow Macaw. Down South they are Quaker Parrots, not Monk Parakeets. I guess a lot of it is regional... like the differences between Coke, Pop, Soda etc.

[Michael]

Actually the White Bellied and Black Headed are two different species. But yes they do have several subspecies including the ones you mentioned.

[pchela]

Ah... I can't keep all the species, sub species straight! It seems every bird has about 6 names. I though Caique was the species and then there are different sub species?

I just looked it up and it says that the Black Head and the Pallid are two different species and there are 5 subspecies but that doesn't sound right to me. I don't know!

[Michael]

Ok, let me see if I can try to clarify. "Caique" is nothing at all. It's just a non-scientific classification of the group of parrots from the Pionites genus. There are two species of pionites:

Pionites melanocephalus - Black Headed Parrot
Pionites leucogaster - White-bellied Parrot

Pallid Parrot is a subspecies of the Black Headed Parrot, the Black Headed Parrot being the nominate (kind of like a CAG being the nominate Grey). The Green-thighed, Yellow-thighed, Yellow-tailed Parrot are subspecies of the White Bellied Parrot. And the sucky thing is that if one didn't know any better you could think there are caiques and black headed parrots... just like my friend thought parakeets and budgies are two separate species and I thought blue and yellow vs. blue and gold macaws were different. This just illustrates the name confusion from having so many different ways of calling the same birds.

I have a theory, and this is only a theory now, that it is the pet/bird stores that are spreading the misconceptions. They insist on calling them caiques, quakers, and parakeets rather than Black Headed/White Bellied Parrots, Monk Parakeets, and Budgerigars.

[miajag]

So basically it just bothers you when people use the common, widely accepted names for things rather than the scientific name? Do you get upset when people call the animals pictured below "cows?" In case you were unaware, they are actually called "cattle."



Interestingly, the only store where I've ever seen a conure called a "parakeet" is Petsmart.

[Michael]

Perhaps if you are a cattle herder or a butcher, it would suit you to know better. Then if you are a parrot owner, then perhaps you could hold yourself to a slightly higher standard as well and know what the proper name for your parrot is if not for the sake of being correct, for the sake of being more educated. If you own a quaker parrot and do not realize it is actually a monk parakeet, you will be cutting yourself off from countless literature about those birds. It doesn't hurt to know the genus/species of the bird you own either.

If you want to have an educated discussion with other owners of the same birds, you're going to have to start by agreeing on what to call them so that you could all know what you are talking about. If someone does not know that Monk Parakeet and Quaker Parrot are the same bird, they may not realize that discussions about one or the other apply as well.

[miajag]

I agree completely that you should know both names. All I'm saying is that describing the non-scientific name as "incorrect" is, well, incorrect.