How do you pronounce these bird names? (1 Viewer)

[Jacamar]

Having rather limited interaction with other birders, I'm not sure how most people pronounce these names. How do you pronounce them?

Piha - On a recent trip to the interior, or guide insisted that Piha was pronounced "Peeha".

Oropendola - I usually say "Orp-en-dola", but I've heard of other ways to pronounce it.

Jaeger - I thought this one was a no-brainer until my uncle asked me about the "yay-ger" that I had seen. I was shocked. Is this how most NA birders pronounce it?

Ani - I've always said "an-eye", but I've heard it pronounced "an-ee".

Pauraque - I'm sure there are a lot of ways to say this one. I pronounce it "por-ake".

 

[Edward woodwood]

Piha: Pee-ha

Oropendola: Ora pen dola

Jaegar: Jee ger (ending as in linger)

Ani: Annie (the girl's name)

Pauraque: Pora-a-kay

hope this is understandable: we don't have phoneme symbols on BF!

 

[Katy Penland]

Yes, "jaeger" is pronounced YAY-ger (hard "g" as in "ghost") in North America. And Ani as Tim says, like the name Annie. The others I can't help with. :t:

 

[Dave B Smith]

Jacamar,
I've also done most of my birding with just my wife so have faced the same questions and lots more. Last week we were in Panama and I've always pronounced Aracari as Ara Saree and there they were calling it an Ara karee. Post away with any others!

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Below is how I pronounce Pauraque and Oropendola and the way I've always heard them pronounced in South America (latter originate from Spanish, former is, if I remember right, an onomatopoeic of its commonly heard song - although it does sounds more accurate in some populations than in other):

* oro-pén-dola (oro refering to the yellow in their tails, pendola to the nests).
* pou-rá-ke (the last u in Pauraque is silent - just like in Cacique).
* Aracari is a bit more stricky. Strictly speaking it is pronounced ara-sa-ri and was originally written (in Brazilian Portuguese) Araçari. However, as most people living in countries where the ç doesn't exists just reads & pronounces it as an c it changed and outside Brazil virtually everybody seems to write Aracari and pronounce it ara-ka-ri.

As for Ani, Jaeger & Piha I agree completely with Tim (the ae in Jaeger basically being a standin for the æ we have in Danish). When that has been said it should be noted that many names aren't pronounced correctly even by the "top ornithologists" in the Neotropics and in many cases it almost seems as if there has been some consensus that "we just pronounce it as if it was English". Especially birds that are named after some person with a German name seem to suffer and often receive almost hilarious pronunciation (at least for someone speaking German). Even more so if the name includes an umlaut.