This week’s post is brought to you in part by my trip this weekend to la plage (the beach). In these times of social distancing¹Dit la distanciation physique, distanciation sociale, ou éloignement sanitaire en français. a trip to the beach seemed like a relatively safe bet what with all the fresh air, sun, and space.

As I relaxed sur la sable (on the sand) I imagined the great post I could write about all the words for things you see à la plage … sadly I quickly discovered we’ve already covered the beach here on the Transparent Language French blog!

Quoi faire ?! (What to do ?!) Fortunately I wasn’t entirely out of luck, because one of the things I saw à la plage gave me another idea.

Les noms des oiseaux

So left without any good beach vocabulary, this week we look at les oiseaux (birds). Starting with:

la mouette / gull, sea gull

la cigogne / stork

l’oie / goose

l’aigle / eagle

le colibri / hummingbird

le cygne / swan

l’hirondelle / swallow

le flamant rose / the pink flamingo

le rossignol³Rossignol is also the name of the famous French ski and sports equipment manufacturer. / nightingale

le corbeau / raven, crow⁴The proper term for crow is actually une corneille, but most French people will call them corbeau (even if that is really the word for raven).

le moineau / sparrow

le piaf / sparrow⁵While the correct term is moineau, the sparrow is also known as a piaf in common language. Piaf, is also, of course, the stage name of one of France’s greatest singers.

le perroquet / parrot

le paon / peacock

le hibou, la chouette⁶According to this article, while often assumed to be the male and female of the same species, les chouettes et les hiboux are actually different animals … though we call both of them owls in English. / owl

A la semaine prochaine!

Did you notice a few birds missing from the list above? I’ve saved a few for an upcoming post when we’ll look at the birds (and other animals) of la basse-cour.

• 1
  Dit la distanciation physique, distanciation sociale, ou éloignement sanitaire en français.
• 2
  Apparently now known as « éducateur sportif des activités de la natation » / sports instructor for activities related to swimming !
• 3
  Rossignol is also the name of the famous French ski and sports equipment manufacturer.
• 4
  The proper term for crow is actually une corneille, but most French people will call them corbeau (even if that is really the word for raven).
• 5
  While the correct term is moineau, the sparrow is also known as a piaf in common language. Piaf, is also, of course, the stage name of one of France’s greatest singers.
• 6
  According to this article, while often assumed to be the male and female of the same species, les chouettes et les hiboux are actually different animals … though we call both of them owls in English.