We’ve all received names. Perhaps many of you have experienced the excitement and pressure of giving a name! After pouring through all of the options, you may end up with a daughter named “Anne”, a horse named “Thunder” and a boat named “Boaty McBoatface”. It’s a moment to get creative, capture a personality and start a new journey. I’ve had the pleasure of giving many names to animals under my care. With each name, I hope it’s the start of a life full of adventure and fun!
When I first arrived at our Captive Breeding Center in Punta Islita, I was assigned a zone with many nameless Scarlet and Great Green Macaws. At the time, they were identified by either their location on site or by the letter/number combination on their stainless-steel rings. With over 20 birds under my direct care, I knew that memorizing all of the lengthy ring numbers would be difficult, so I decided instead to give each bird a name that would help keep them familiar in my mind.
An avid reader, I decided to draw inspiration from some famous literary characters for the first round of names.
Lizzy and Darcy (“Pride and Prejudice”)
Romeo and Juliet (“Romeo and Juliet”)
Fantine and Valjean (“Les Misérables”)
KitKat and Cliff (shortened from Catherine and Heathcliff of “Wuthering Heights”)
Next, I looked at some classic movies and shows. Full disclosure: I took creative liberties.
Maverick and Charlotte (“Top Gun”)
Goose and Moose (“Top Gun”-ish)
Iceman and Firewoman (“Top Gun”-ish)
Bill and Kiddo (“Kill Bill”)
Fred and Ethel (“I love Lucy”)
My fellow apprentices at the time also chose some names for the macaws under their care. Many of the birds had previously been marked with nail polish on their beaks to help us identify them, so naming them was less of a creative endeavor: Orange, Green, Pink, Black and Light Blue. For others, it was a more imaginative process of observing the birds’ personalities or unique physical traits to come up with names. As a result, we have Crazy, Gonzo, Houdini, BabyFace, Big, Tiny, Morticia, Caesar, Chicken, Paul, Owen, Mufasa, Tom’s Friend, Rosia, Dwarf, Fly Bird and Grumpy. With nearly 100 birds on site, we took the challenge head on.
While naming the older birds is a fun process, the excitement is doubled whenever we have a chick hatch! We often ask our supporters to come up with names for the chicks, but until
that time, we are inclined to continue our creative process and give them placeholder names. Similar to the adults, we’ve used themed names such as: Alfalfa, Darla, Spanky and Buckwheat (“The Little Rascals”). Or Filbert, Pistachio, Almendro and Mac (types of nuts). Sometimes, we consider the individual’s traits such as Patches, who got her names because of how her feathers grew in. Sunshine always seemed to greet the world with a smile whenever I performed her weekly physicals. Chunk was a healthy and HUGE boy. And Wink had one eye open sooner than the other.
As mentioned earlier, we sometimes ask our donors and supporters to contribute to the creative and fun process. Two years ago, we asked the children in Punta Islita to come up with a name for a wild Scarlet Macaw chick that hatched in the village. After weeks of anticipation, we were eager to hear what silly and creative name the young children had come up with. They chose the name Patrick. Not quite as silly as we had expected, but the children were excited, and it gave us all an added connection the young bird who had previously been nameless.
While the names we give to the birds come in a wide variety, it allows us the opportunity to share their stories more closely with you. If you’d like the opportunity to give forever names to some of our chicks hatched this season, we encourage you to visit our website and donate to one of our programs. We hope you enjoy learning and hearing about the birds who we care deeply about. Not just the ones at our Captive Breeding Center, but the ones flying free throughout Costa Rica like Patrick, Chica and Big Bertha who inspire us to care, conserve and get creative!
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to visit our Parrot TV Channel to never miss an update about the birds!
Brittany Decker: Programs Manager – Captive Breeding Center