In an earlier comment, Saemma had asked how the severe macaw got its name. I supposed that the common name came from the scientific name "Ara severa" but that's not very helpful -- where did the scientific name come from?
I did some googling around and found a book called Dictionary of Birds in the US: Scientific and Common Names by Joel Ellis Holloway. Google showed me p. 32 about the severe macaw, and here's what it said:
Ara -- part of the Tupi Indian word for macaw
Severa -- comes from Latin "severus" meaning stern, strict, or severe. Reference is to the scolding call.
Personally, I don't find the severe macaw's call to be more scolding than that of any other macaw, but interesting nonetheless!
I think this book will be very interesting as we continue with our birding, so I'm going to purchase it. I love etymology and parrot-related etymology is even better. Thanks for the interesting question, Saemma!
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2 comments:
Thanks so much for looking into this! I really appreciate it!
I don't find that Rocky or my Mabel to be *stern* at all. In fact I find them both to be big Goofs!! Apparently it is because
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Chestnut-fronted_Macaw
and do check this out!
a sub species. Much heavier in weight. How much does Rocky weigh approximately? Mabel is quite dainty maybe under 305 grams.
Here was the other site..
http://www.my-papagei.de/papageienarten/aras/rotbugara.html
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