[Nhcoll-l] [External] Re: common English name

Thu Oct 27 13:12:38 EDT 2022

The same "Nachteule" Cindy mentions also exists in German; usually they don't fly. Well, some topple - and this may include a very tiny brief moment of free air suspension.

These owls predominantly are male specimens, even tough female specimens can be spotted - e.g. in Bavaria usually in late September during the Oktoberfest.

But this "Nachteule" (as a German common species name) can also be an Erebid or Noctuid butterfly, i.e. owlet moths; so if common names are to be used on labels (and the common name potentially applies / could apply t more than one species), it might be worth putting it into context (e.g. Nachteulen- Schmetterling - which already is the case in the more descriptive English owlet moth).

With best wishes
Dirk

Am 27.10.2022 um 18:09 schrieb Opitz, Cindy E:
Could they be using a colloquial term, such as the English term “night owls” (or simply “owls”) applied to folks who stay up late or are active at night? Not a bird term, but a pun of sorts? Sometimes exhibition language is playful like this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_owl

Cindy Opitz (she/her)
Director of Research Collections
Museum of Natural History and Old Capitol Museum
Instructor, Museum Studies Certificate Program
The University of Iowa
11 Macbride Hall, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Office: 319.335.0481
cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu<mailto:cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu>
mnh.uiowa.edu,<https://mnh.uiowa.edu/> oldcap.uiowa.edu<https://oldcap.uiowa.edu/>
[cid:part1.JLFWaQMz.E08I0U6S at leibniz-lib.de]

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu><mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Frier, Danae PCS
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2022 10:54 AM
To: Wendy Beins <wendybeins at gmail.com><mailto:wendybeins at gmail.com>; Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il><mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
Cc: NHCOLL-new <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu><mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [External] Re: [Nhcoll-l] common English name

Hello all,

I think the key here is the term “birds of prey”, as it typically would refer exclusively to raptors (owls, hawks, falcons, etc). While nighthawks are nocturnal predators, since they are taxonomically different from raptors, they wouldn’t be considered a bird of prey. I believe owls are the only bird of prey that are nocturnal, so “owl” might be an appropriate English translation if the Hebrew term is also referring only to raptors and not all avian predators. However, it would also be important to know that not all owls are nocturnal – many are active during the day or at dawn/dusk, i.e. all nocturnal birds of prey are owls, but not all owls are nocturnal birds of prey.

Note that I wouldn’t technically consider myself  an ornithologist, and there may be exceptions to the above that I’m not aware of - but I think it applies generally.

Regardless, I think Wendy’s last sentence is the best advice – “Don’t use the word owl on a display label to refer to animals that are not owls.”

Cheers,
Danae

Danae Frier (she/her)
Curatorial Assistant – Vertebrate Zoology

Royal Saskatchewan Museum
2340 Albert St., Regina, Saskatchewan  S4P 2V7
P: (306) 787-4852

[cid:part2.OOv2EwiP.skPBRfFg at leibniz-lib.de]

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Wendy Beins
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2022 6:52 AM
To: Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il<mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>>
Cc: NHCOLL-new <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] common English name

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Gali~
Also not an ornithologist so I don't know the common English term for all nocturnal birds (if one exists), but I think lay people calling all nocturnal birds "owls" to be on par with lay people calling all fossils "dinosaurs".  It is incredibly incorrect and not something museums should be perpetuating.  Although I now work in museum administration, my education background is vert paleo collections and research based and so when I'm working guest experience and someone refers to a non-dinosaur fossil as a dinosaur I will correct them every time.
I know this didn't really answer your question other than please don't use the word "owl" on a display label to refer to animals that are not owls.

~~Wendy Beins

On Thu, Oct 27, 2022 at 2:35 AM Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il<mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>> wrote:
Dear All,

Just checking something that became a point of curiosity for me: I am not an ornithologist, I'm a conservator, so was quite surprised to learn recently something that sounded extremely strange to me. Maybe the bird specialists here can confirm it (or not):

In a discussion on common-language English translation for a term in Hebrew covering all night-time birds of prey ("Dorsei laila", for those of you curious to know some Hebrew!), I was told that the commonly used English-language term to this end was "Owls".

That surprised me very much, since I always thought that this word only referred to true owls (Strigiformes) and did not cover other nightly predators such as nighthawks. Does the term "owl" indeed refer to all nocturnal birds of prey? On a display label, which term would correctly describe all nocturnal birds of prey (owls/nocturnal raptors/nocturnal birds of prey)? This sort of piques my mind and I would be glad to hear your thoughts!

Thanks,

Gali

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[https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/uc?id=0B5B3I3QnN7dsSzNkbGlLNDNGWG8&export=download]Gali Beiner (ACR)
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National Natural History Collections
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