Turkey vultures spotted on a hike in San Diego’s Mission Trails Regional Park lead to a small feast of collective nouns for turkey vultures. A group in a tree can be a committee, a venue, or a volt. In flight, it’s a kettle, and when feasting on...
Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It’s a form of the Latin word grex meaning “flock” or “herd.” This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate...
A flock of starlings is called a murmuration, and a beautiful video of a murmuration of starlings flying about has been described by Martha as “nature’s ornithological lava lamp.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Murmuration”...
trendonista n.— «“The trendonistas still flock to Barneys, but it’s just to eat lunch and buy a lipstick,” said Leslie Wright, a fashion-forward executive at Bonhams & Butterfields, the art auctioneer. “That way,” she continued, “they can still...
flyover n.— «A $60 million road project, which in late 2006 replaced the notorious Sagamore rotary with a straight stretch of highway heading over the Sagamore Bridge and onto the Cape.…The figures indicate that the new roadway—often called “the...
flake n.— «A big flake of straw thrown out onto the snow, along with some scratch feed, made it a bit more tempting a place to explore and soon half the flock were out in the sun.» —“Spring cleaning in January” by Vicki Biggs-Anderson Cook County...