Re: correct plumage terminology

[Helmut Mueller <hmuelle@earthlink.net>]

Pittaway is not absolutely correct.
The problem lies in the English language. Anything that is incorrect, if
used often enough, becomes correct. Then a new term is coined to resolve the
confusion, but this in common usage only adds to the confusion. Thus
immature plumage has become first basic or basic I. The first breeding
plumage is now alternate I. Add to this the banding office terminology & it
becomes a Tower of Babel.


-- Helmut C Mueller

409 Moonridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Phone: 919-942-4937

Permanent email address: hmueller@email.unc.edu


> From: "Leah Campbell" <faeriemaiden@hotmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2002 09:09:01 -0400
> To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
> Subject: correct plumage terminology
> 
> Dear Carolina Birders,
> 
> Please allow me to correct some information I posted.
> 
> I wrote:
> "Juvenile typically refers to a bird that has not developed a complete set
> of true feathers. An immature, on the other hand, has true feathers but
> lacks adult coloration." (a gross assumption on my part)
> 
> Thanks to several thoughtful folks, I was directed to some excellent avian
> glossaries. A discussion of plumage terminology by Ron Pittaway describes
> the terms "juvenile" and "immature" wonderfully. Here is an excerpt:
> 
> "Immature: A general and collective term that includes juvenile, first
> winter, first summer and all subsequent plumages until the non-changing
> adult (definitive) plumage is acquired.
> 
> Juvenile or Juvenal: To avoid confusion, it is best to use these two terms
> as having the same meaning. It is the first covering of true contour
> feathers following the natal down(s), or in certain species it succeeds the
> naked nestling stage without the natal down. Juvenile has a precise meaning;
> it is the first immature plumage. The juvenile plumage is worn briefly in
> most passerines, but much longer in loons, hawks, gulls, shorebirds and
> others. In most birds, the juvenile feathers appear looser, woollier, and
> differently coloured and shaped than subsequent stages. Some authors use
> juvenile, but not juvenal, as having the same meaning as immature, just
> adding to the confusion. Other authors use juvenile as a noun and juvenal as
> an adjective. For example, the juvenile is in its juvenal plumage. However,
> both words can be used as nouns and adjectives."
> 
> I will try to choose my terms more carefully in the future. Thanks for all
> your help and patience!
> 
> Leah
> 
> Leah Campbell
> Blackstock, SC
> leahcam@lycos.com
> faeriemaiden@hotmail.com
> 
> 
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