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Birds of East Asia & Mainland Southeast Asia Glossary of Species Names in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese |
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| cjvlang home |
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Birds of East Asia & Mainland Southeast Asia Glossary of Species Names in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese |
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| cjvlang home |
What's so great about a list of bird names? After all, the names that men give are just a pale reflection of the birds themselves.
Well, bird-lovers may rejoice in biodiversity, but in matters linguistic they tend to use common or garden English as a lowest common denominator. So, in the interest of 'lingua-diversity', here they are: bird species of East and Mainland Southeast Asia in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese. The countries covered are Japan, the Koreas, China & Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar (excluding the Andamans), Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore. I hope the site will be useful for birding in these countries.
Recently I got hold of Birds of the World (Latin, Chinese and English Names) 2nd ed., originally edited by Cheng Tso-Hsin and completed posthumously. Although it appeared at roughly the same time as Zheng Guangmei's A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of the World, it is somewhat less complete and the names it assigns to the birds of the world differ significantly from Zheng Guangmei's. While the initiative in bird naming appears to have passed to the group around Zheng Guangmei, given the importance of Cheng Tso-Hsin's nomenclature, I have decided to include the species names listed in this book on a par with Zheng Guangmei's. This will be a gradual process, progressing family by family. Currently completed families or subfamilies: Prunellinae, Alcedinidae, Alcinae, Megalaimidae, Tytonidae, Meropidae, Sulidae, Eurylaimidae, Pycnonotidae, Emberizinae, Otididae, Turnicidae, Cerylidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Centropodidae, Dromadinae, Gruidae, Corvidae, Cuculidae, Anhingidae, Cinclidae, Columbidae, Anatidae, Accipitridae, Eurostopodidae, Falconidae, Ardeidae, Phasianidae, Nectariniidae, Turdinae, Dendrocygnidae, Picidae.
If you have any suggestions or corrections, please e-mail
me at 
. Log of Updates is here.
My thanks to Milonic for allowing me to use their menu system. Thanks to Walter Zorn for the Tooltip Javascript.
NON-PASSERIFORMES
| Orders | Families/subfamilies (Latin) | Description in English |
| GALLIFORMES | Phasianidae 1 2 3 4 5 | Grouse & allies |
| ANSERIFORMES | Dendrocygnidae | Whistling ducks |
| Anatidae 1 2 3 4 | Ducks & allies | |
| TURNICIFORMES | Turnicidae | Button quails |
| PICIFORMES | Indicatoridae | Honeyguides |
| Picidae 1 2 | Woodpeckers | |
| Megalaimidae | Asian barbets | |
| BUCEROTIFORMES | Bucerotidae | Typical hornbills |
| UPUPIFORMES | Upupidae | Hoopoes |
| TROGONIFORMES | Trogonidae | Trogons |
| CORACIIFORMES | Coraciidae | Typical rollers |
| Alcedinidae | Alcedinid kingfishers | |
| Halcyonidae | Halcyonid kingfishers | |
| Cerylidae | Cerylid kingfishers | |
| Meropidae | Bee-eaters | |
| CUCULIFORMES | Cuculidae 1 2 | Old World cuckoos |
| Centropodidae | Coucals | |
| PSITTACIFORMES | Psittacidae | Parrots |
| APODIFORMES | Apodidae | Typical swifts |
| Hemiprocnidae | Crested swifts | |
| STRIGIFORMES | Tytonidae | Barn & grass owls |
| Strigidae 1 2 | Typical owls | |
| Batrachostomidae | Asian frogmouths | |
| Eurostopodidae | Eared nightjars | |
| Caprimulgidae | Nightjars & allies | |
| COLUMBIFORMES | Columbidae 1 2 | Pigeons |
| GRUIFORMES | Otididae | Bustards |
| Gruidae | Cranes | |
| Heliornithidae | Sungrebes | |
| Rallidae 1 2 | Rails | |
| CICONIIFORMES | Pteroclidae | Sandgrouse |
| Scolopacidae | Snipe & allies | |
Scolopacinae |
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| Rostratulidae | Painted snipe | |
| Jacanidae | Jacanas | |
| Burhinidae | Stone curlews/Thick-knees | |
| Charadriidae | Plovers & allies | |
Recurvirostrinae |
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| Glareolidae | Pratincoles & allies | |
Dromadinae |
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| Laridae | Gulls & allies | |
Larinae 1 2 3 4 |
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| Accipitridae | Hawks & allies | |
Pandioninae |
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| Falconidae | Falcons | |
| Podicipedidae | Grebes | |
| Phaethontidae | Tropic birds | |
| Sulidae | Boobies | |
| Anhingidae | Anhingas | |
| Phalacrocoracidae | Cormorants | |
| Ardeidae 1 2 | Herons | |
| Phoenicopteridae | Flamingos | |
| Threskiornithidae | Ibises | |
| Pelecanidae | Pelicans & allies | |
| Ciconiidae | Storks & allies | |
| Fregatidae | Frigate birds | |
| Gaviidae | Divers/Loons | |
| Procellariidae | Petrels & allies | |
Procellariinae |
PASSERIFORMES
Tables cover bird species from Japan, the Koreas, China & Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar (excluding the Andamans), Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore. Species in green-coloured boxes have been recorded in the country or area in question (Taiwan and China are terminologically separate).
Main sources relied on can be found at Sources.
Scientific names : Sibley-Monroe is taken as standard. Older or variant classifications are also shown (Howard-Moore in bold red).
English common names: Howard-Moore names (2003) in bold red type, Sibley-Monroe names in bold purple type, shared names in bold black type. English common names used by Cheng Tso Hsin are marked (Cheng), omitted if only one name exists.
Chinese names: Currently, Zheng Guangmei's world list of birds is taken as standard (marked ZGM). Other sources are marked separately if they disagree. This approach is now changing as I add names from Cheng Tso-hsin's world list (ChengW). The revised approach is as follows: For species found in China, no marking of source indicates that the following sources all agree on the name: Zheng Guangmei's world list (ZGM), Cheng Tso-Hsin's list of Chinese birds (Cheng), Zheng Guangmei's list of Chinese birds (ZGMCh), Cheng Tso-Hsin's world list (ChengW), MacKinnon and Phillipps (M&P), and the Atlas of Birds of China (Atlas). If the bird is found in Viney's list of birds of Hong Kong and South China, the words "incl. Viney" are added. If there is not full agreement among sources, all sources are listed. For species outside China, no marking of sources indicates that both ZGM and ChengW agree on the name. Otherwise, the source is specifically indicated. The name found in Lim's list of Singapore birds is shown if this differs from the two other sources.
Vietnamese names: The Vo and Nguyen Checklist of the Birds of Vietnam is taken as standard. Other sources are shown below the horizontal bar.
marks a link to a publicly-available photo on the Internet (although subspecies may differ).
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