We may hear different versions of the Black-capped Chickadee song if we are listening to one in Alabama or in Washington. Bird songs have regional dialects, just like humans. So it shouldn’t come a big surprise to learn that there are many variations of Spanish names for bird species. One of our oldest languages, Spanish has been adapted over time to suit regional uses and needs.

The challenge of settling on a set of Spanish names for use in Version 11 of the NCWAS Common Birds of North Central Washington bird poster has produced a compilation of names from five reputable sources: the Cornell Lab, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sibley, Kaufman and, of course, Audubon. Amazingly, there is very little overlap between these sources.

A PDF version of the spreadsheet containing the Spanish names is available in our “Downloadable Resources” section found here.

We sent this table out for comment to a wide variety of people in Latino and scientific communities. Everyone recognized that there is simply not a silver bullet for standardizing the names. Several people pointed out that many Latin American academics and bird guides are using a variety of phone-based apps to identify birds. Of the available apps, Merlin and eBird seem to be the most common sources for Spanish bird names. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is behind these apps. Our initial choice of standard Spanish bird names will, therefore, use the names provided by the Cornell Lab.

We recognize that the Cornell names may not fit perfectly within our local Latino community and we are open to changing the names if local expertise can be found and documented. Until then, we are very happy to provide the table of names as a resource for others who may want to pursue refinement and corrections. Let us know what you think. You can always send us comments through our website.