The Surprising Animals Who Say Their Own Names

Or why the Kittiwake and the Zyzzyx won’t stop talking about themselves.

A Perch of Birds, by Hector Giacomelli

Everyone knows that a Cuckoo says “cuckoo.” It’s the least interesting thing about the cuckoo, which lays its egg in the nests of other birds to outsource the hard work of parenting, and in fact was almost certainly a clever ploy by this wicked animal to avoid being called the Deadbeat bird. In the Year of Our Lord 2024, I for one am committed to spending vastly less time on the villainous cuckoo, which says “cuckoo” and destroys families, and paying much more attention to the lovely Pobblebonk frog, which says “bonk” and lives in a pond in Australia.

A majestic pobblebonk frog contemplates whether or not to say “bonk,” majestically. (Oval frog and Green toad by Charles Dessalines D’ Orbigny)

A deeply unpleasant habit in humans and cuckoos (who should both be focusing more on soul-searching and apologizing), saying your own name all the time can be surprisingly endearing if you are the right sort of animal. The Chickadee, for instance, says “chickadee,” which is marvelously charming, although if you catch one in a down moment, she’ll tell you that she prefers to say “fee-dee”—“chickadee” is reserved for situations when a predator is approaching, with more “dees” added to signify increased…