![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/northern-harrier-5558-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-5558-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThis name change made many folks angry and some continue to grumble about it to this day.<\/p>\n
The common names of birds can be confusing. To minimize that confusion the American Ornithologists Union (A.O.U.) assigns an acceptable common name for each bird species. Their goal is for the assigned name to be both fitting and consistent and that the name is universally used and accepted. But when those names have to be changed, based on new scientific evidence or even public pressure, it can create a mini-firestorm.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is our old friend the Northern Harrier. Normally they’re quite skittish but this one was so close I had to remove my teleconverter. This pose emphasizes their unusually long and slender body.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n But their most distinctive feature is probably their facial disk, a trait they share with owls.<\/p>\n For decades the official common name of this bird was Marsh Hawk and that name was both descriptive and appropriate because they’re obviously a hawk and their preferred habitat is marshes. My first serious introduction to Marsh Hawks was in the early 80’s when I’d see them cruising the marshes at Bear River MBR. They were common and easy to identify both perched and in flight and their name seemed absolutely perfect for them.<\/p>\n However, there are about a dozen species of harriers found throughout the world and our Marsh Hawk just happened to be one of them. The A.O.U. wasn’t comfortable allowing this single harrier species to have a non-harrier name so in 1982 they decided that our Marsh Hawk had to become the Northern Harrier.<\/p>\n What? You can imagine the reaction of many long-time birders and raptor aficionados! Even though I was a newbie birder at the time I was incensed. And stubborn about accepting the change. This was in the days before the internet so changes like this took some time to become accepted (for example, new editions of major field guides had to come out for the word to get out there) and some of us accept those changes grudgingly, kicking and screaming all the way. I continued to call them Marsh Hawks for several years after the change was made.<\/p>\n But now “Northern Harrier” seems perfectly appropriate and I often remind myself that the name change could have been worse. In Europe this same species is called a Hen Harrier, a name that has always seemed inappropriate and even distasteful to me.<\/p>\n If the A.O.U. had decided to call our Marsh Hawk the Hen Harrier in order to be consistent with Europe I’d still be kicking and screaming.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This name change made many folks angry and some continue to grumble about it to this day.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/northern-harrier-5670b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-5670b-ron-dudley\\"")
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