I don’t know if I should write this as a comment in the funny names thread or make it a new thread, but I think this is curious enough to go for the latter option. But the thing is there’s something funny with whoever named the birds in the genus Chordeiles (nighthawks), (more specifically, C. acutipennis and C. minor). The common name for C. acutipennis is ‘‘Lesser nighthawk’’, and C. minor is called ‘‘Common nighthawk’’. So, why isn’t the Lesser nighthawk called ‘‘minor’’ like its relative? And why is it called ‘‘acutipennis’’, when the ‘‘acute winged’’ species is the Common nighthawk?
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Yes, and why isn’t the Antillean Nighthawk called the Least Nighthawk since it’s smaller than both the Lesser and Common. Common should be the Greater (or Greatest) Nighthawk. It’s a mystery.
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Is Common bigger than Lesser?
Slightly, yes.
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That’s even worse! Who on Earth named these birds so wrong?
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