Many thanks to Bernard P. Nofs of Trenton, New Jersey, USA, for his numerous additions to this list.
Michael Quinion once wrote about the history of collective nouns. Since the redesign of his website I cannot find the article. However, you might -- here is the link to his site:
A site setup by Bruce M. Bowman with more bird collective nouns:
POETRY
Celeste Warner Whilst Watching a Dissimulation of Birds
Robert Douglas COLLECTIVE NOUNSENSE
NOTE:
New Zealand Birds has found no collective nouns under the alpha headings of "X", or "Z", therefore no corresponding pages for those letters have been established.
| a diacriticality of | Accentors |
| a host of | Accentors |
| a flight of | Albatrosses |
| a rookery of | Albatrosses |
| a weight of | Albatrosses |
| a cooch of | Anis |
| an orphanage of | Anis |
| a silliness of | Anis |
| a beard of (whiskered) | Auklets |
| a colony of | Auks |
| a dopping of | Auks |
| a flock of | Auks |
| a loomery of | Auks |
| a raft of | Auks |
| a flight of (little) | Auks |
| an edge of (razor-billed) | Auks |
| a colony of | Avcotes |
| a flock of | Awks |
| a loomery of | Awks |
| a raft of | Awks |
| a swim of | Awks |
| an extinction of (great) | Awks |
| a museum specimen of (great) | Awks |
| a waddle of (great) | Awks |
Additions to this list are welcome, especially Australian and New Zealand birds. EMAIL: [email protected]
NZ Birds uses antique print images to illustrate our site. For the purposes of this page, we would be pleased to receive photographs of birds from around the world to illustrate some of the collective nouns. Please EMAIL: [email protected] if you wish to contribute.