moonbird

English

Etymology

From moon +‎ bird, apparently because the birds return to nesting sites after nightfall.

Noun

moonbird (plural moonbirds)

  1. (Australia) The mutton bird. [from 20th c.]
    • 2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 167:
      He survived for several months upon the moonbirds’ fatty mutton-like meat & the solace provided by the one book washed up with him […] .
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