moonbird
English edit
Etymology edit
From moon + bird, apparently because the birds return to nesting sites after nightfall.
Noun edit
moonbird (plural moonbirds)
- (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 […] .