Oh, I used to know so many of these. One of my favorites in an exaltation of larks! I know one for beavers, dolphins, coyotes, geese, apes, and maybe eagles (perhaps those who are part of the British Empire know that one, too?). I can think of terms that might work for several of the others and will amuse myself coming up with ideas today.

There should be a silence of clams, don't you think? ;)

Cynthia

I know or think I know most of them but Apes and one or two more I'm not sure of.

Annette

Hmmmm....well, Apes are Morse-like!! And eagles may be born again!!

Does that help?

Nancy.

Ooops. I think I mixed up eagles with owls, perhaps? Was thinking parliament. Oh well. Guess I know fewer than I thought.

Morse? I am really lost. ;(

Cynthia

I'm pretty sure that this has come up here before. Heck, I might have even posted it myself, which sorta takes away any excuse for my not knowing the answers. I do know murder of crows, and I think I know the geese one, but that's about it.

How about a hornybunch of bucks? Probably not, huh?
A billroll of clams? I like your answer for this, Cynthia.
A tweetle of budgies?
A skulk of cats?

As you can see, I really have nothing.

TM

lol. Well, the idea is to give the little grey cells some exercise!! Perhaps the apes are like investors?? Hmmm...if you think of where clams are found, this might be easier....

Cyn, you are right that it is a Parliament of owls!! To bad I didn't ask that - lol.

Nancy - who if finally finishing off the turkey soup, to freeze.

Here's mine so far
Bears...?
Apes...?
Beavers...Colony
Bucks...Herd
Budgies...?
Caterpillar...Army
Cats...?
Clams...Bed
Coyotes...Pack
Dolphins...Pod?
Eagles...?
Geese...Gaggle

Didn't know as many as I thought I did, I think I knew what bears were at on time :(.

Annette

Bears could make reference to DCI Morse, or perhaps Mike Hammer.
Cats - one easy one is something that they do....
Budgies - again, think of a group of them and what they do.
Eagles are religious.

Any help anybody??

Nancy.

Okay, here are mine so far:

Bears ? Maybe a den?
Apes - ? Troop?
Beavers - family
Bucks (as in male deer) - not sure, but will go with herd, although I didn't think bucks hung out in groups so much
Budgies, or budgerigars ?
Caterpillars will go with Annette - army
Cats - can't wait to hear this one!
Clams bed sounds good to me
Coyotes - pack
Dolphins - pod
Eagles - big losers (lost in overtime today-American football). :)
Geese - gaggle

Cynthia

Hmmm....for bucks - think what they do in groups!! Or a bunch of dead game birds.....

Nancy.

A crash of bucks?

I like TM's a tweetle of budgies!

Next, maybe we should make a new list of what WE think different groups should be called!

This is fun.

Cynthia

A congregation of eagles? This just popped into my mind.

TM

Well, I'm not sure how that went down....hope you enjoyed!!

A Sloth or a Sleuth of Bears
A Shrewdness of Apes
A Colony or a Family of Beavers
A Brace or Clash of Bucks
A Chatter of Budgies, or budgerigars
An Army of Caterpillars
A Pounce (love this one!), Clowder, Comfort, Chowder or Clutter of Cats
A Bed of Clams
A Pack, Train, Brand or Rout of Coyotes
A school or a pod of Dolphins
A Convocation or a Congregation of Eagles
A Gaggle, Flock, Skein, Team, Wedge or Plump of geese.

No one went for Bonus Points - a group of birds could be not only a Flock, but also a Flight, a Parcel, a Pod, a Volary, a Brace or a dissimulation!

Love all of those, and I will probably forget every one of them by tonight!! lol.
So, Annette and Cyn both got 5/12, so:

TM, you got one of the tough ones!! So:

Thanks for playing, hope you enjoyed. Let me know, I might do this another time!! Have a great week. This is my last Monday off till a holiday!! Yea.

Nancy.

There are probably a lot of these lists out there, but when I Googled collective noun I found a pretty extensive list of them at the link below. Some of them are so strange that I suppose most of these usages are archaic, like maybe they were correct in England in 1605 or something.

Fun stuff, Nancy. Thank you.

TM

Here is a link that might be useful: Collective noun

I'm writing them all down longhand hoping the ones I didn't know will stick in my foggy noggin LOL. Thanks for another fun weekend guys.

Annette

TM, that is similar to the site I found - glad you too think it fascinating!!
I got a link on Facebook the other day, which I cannot figure out how to copy onto here. 8( It said, English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar!! Love it.

Thanks for playing! I am finally off to my allotment for the final clean-up!!

Nancy.

I always like these. One would think I would be better at remembering them! Maybe I will try Annette's technique-writing something down always does help me remember.

Thanks for the stars! Have a marvelous week everyone. Hope Bobbie was off having a fun adventure!

Cynthia