So many, but they all took off except this one!

all 6 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Fyi, it's called a "black-headed gull".

And "Lachmöwe" in German does not mean "laughing" gull either, but "puddle" gull, (Lache im Sinne von Pfütze, kleines stilles Gewässer)

Edit: well, egg on my face. Its latin genus name is ridibundus, meaning laughing, and the German name is a transliteration of that. So it's a false false friend that I (and other biologists I know) seem to have fallen for. Wikipedia references an ornithological work from 1971 for the "laughing" interpretation.

TIL

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] [S] 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    I don't know German, sorry! My bird science friend called it a laughing gull so that's what I've called them now!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

    Curious. Maybe they are called that in some regions after all.

    Edit: see parent comment, the following apparently is false.

    It's just that "Lachmöwe" is a notorious false friend in German, hence my assumption.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    Now I know a false friend in a different language!

    This is the laughing gull I know of! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_gull

    The bird was seen in New Jersey, so it's probably the L. a. megalopterus!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    So many, but they all took off except this one!

    I think it just wanted to savor the joke..?

  • source