A guide to collective nouns for birds. Learn what to call groups of eagles, owls, geese, and more with their fascinating origins.
🦅 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Hawks Called? A raptor with more names for its gatherings than almost any other bird — and one of them describes a very specific trick of flight. 💬 A group of hawks is most often called a boil, though several other terms are used depending … Read more
🐦 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Moorhens Called? A distinctive old waterfowl term, alongside the more familiar all-purpose word. 💬 A group of moorhens is called a plump, a traditional term shared with several other waterfowl, with flock also commonly used. Moorhens (family Rallidae) are common wetland birds found on ponds, … Read more
📖 Collective Noun Lookup What Animals Form a Colony? A word for Roman settlers, borrowed by eleven very different animals that all share one address. 💬 “Colony” is a collective noun for avocets, bats, beavers, frogs, gulls, ibises, lice, penguins, puffins, rats, and termites — a term for any group of animals living closely together … Read more
🪿 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Flying Formation of Geese Called? Whether you spot geese in the air stretched in a loose line or locked into a tight V, that flying formation has its own name, and it isn’t the same one used for geese standing on the ground. 💬 A flying formation … Read more
🐦 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Jays Called? A clever, noisy corvid with a name that captures its personality perfectly. 💬 A group of jays is called a band, with cast, party, and scold also used. Scold in particular captures jays’ famously loud, harsh alarm calls, often used to mob predators … Read more
🦉 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Owls Called? A term that sounds like it belongs in government — and owes its reputation to owls’ long-standing image as the wisest bird in the forest. 💬 A group of owls is most often called a parliament of owls, one of the best-known and … Read more
🐦 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Curlews Called? A long-billed shorebird with one of the largest vocabularies of any wading bird. 💬 A group of curlews is called a buff, with head, herd, salon, skein, and wedge also used depending on the region and flight formation. Quick Facts Animal Curlews Category … Read more
🐦 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Linnets Called? A small, musical finch that shares its collective noun with several other bird species. 💬 A group of linnets is called a parcel, a general term shared with several other small bird species gathered together, including hinds. Quick Facts Animal Linnets Category Birds … Read more
🌊 Birds · Collective Nouns What Is a Group of Sea Fowl Called? A broad, old-fashioned term for the birds that make their living on the open water. 💬 A group of sea fowl is called a cloud. “Sea fowl” is a broad, older umbrella term for seabirds generally, rather than one specific species, covering … Read more
📖 Collective Noun Lookup What Animals Form a Wake? The one collective noun that’s a pun on purpose — vultures gathered over a carcass, just like mourners at a funeral. 💬 “Wake” is a collective noun for buzzards and vultures — and it’s one of the rare cases where the term is a deliberate, dark … Read more