One of the guides asked me the other day what a group of frogs is called, as in Spanish it translates to a congress. To be honest, I didn’t even know a group of parrots had their own collective name. Here are a few others:
- An army of frogs
- A knot or lump of toads
- A school of fish
- A gaggle of geese
- A flock of birds
- A crash of rhinos
- A pod of whales
- A herd of cattle
- A pride of lions
- A cloud of gnats
- A swarm of insects
Here is a list of Bird collectives, terms that you can use to describe a group of like bird species.
- A ballet of swans
- A bazaar of guillemots
- A bevy of quail [or swans]
- A bouquet of pheasants [when flushed]
- A brace of grouse
- A brood of hens
- A building of rooks
- A cast of hawks [or falcons]
- A charm of finches
- A colony or huddle of penguins
- A company of parrots
- A congregation of plovers
- A convocation of eagles
- A cote of doves
- A cover of coots
- A covey of partridges [or grouse or ptarmigans]
- A deceit of lapwings
- A descent of woodpeckers
- A dole of doves
- An exaltation of larks
- A fall of woodcocks
- A flamboyance or ostentation of peacocks
- A flight of swallows [or doves, goshawks, or cormorants]
- A fling of dunlin
- A gaggle of geese [wild or domesticated]
- A host of sparrows
- A kettle of hawks [riding a thermal]
- A murmuration of starlings
- A murder or congress of crows
- A muster of storks [or turkeys]
- A nye of pheasants [on the ground]
- A paddling of ducks [on the water]
- A parliament of owls [or rooks]
- A party of jays
- A peep of chickens
- A pitying of turtledoves
- A plump of waterfowl
- A raft of ducks [on water]
- A rafter of turkeys
- A sedge of cranes
- A siege of herons
- A skein of geese [in flight]
- A sort of mallards
- A spring of teal
- A tiding of magpies
- A trip of dotterel
- An unkindness of ravens
- A watch of nightingales
- A wedge of swans
- A wisp of snipe
Now we just need a few suggestions for some more local birds of Tambopata like tanagers and oropendolas. I suggest a spark of tanagers as they flitter around in a range of colors like the sparks from a fireworks show. As for oropendolas, a somersault would go some way to describing their dance when they call… Any other suggestions?