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<\/p>\nNo fewer than 149 North American bird species named after people may soon acquire new names.<\/p>\n
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As part of an effort to “make\u00a0<\/span>o<\/span>rnithology and birding more diverse and inclusive” the leadership of the American Ornithology Union (AOU) now supports changing the names of North American bird species that are named for people (eponymous names) to different names that reflect something unique about each species. <\/span><\/p>\n The reasoning behind such a change is complex, nuanced and controversial so it’s creating quite a stir in the birding community. It isn’t within the scope of this blog post to cover all of the history and the logic motivating such a drastic makeover but for those interested I’ll post links at the bottom of this post covering both sides of the controversy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But it sure threw me for a loop, at least at first. It’s especially hard for me to imagine calling Cooper’s Hawks and Swainson’s Hawks something else but there’s a long list of other birds that I see and photograph regularly or occasionally whose eponymous names would be changed, including the following:<\/span><\/p>\n If you live and bird in another area of North America your list would be different from mine and it could be longer or shorter. And you may be more flexible than I am. I’m more of a creature of habit than most folks so for me this would be a sea change that I’d have a very difficult time adapting to. My initial reaction, weeks ago, was skeptical at best. At worst I wondered if “woke birding” was going too far and too quickly.<\/p>\n But then I settled down and thought about it, including asking myself the following questions. Should a person who didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the bird named after him (or her) be memorialized in the common name of that bird?\u00a0 Should a person who fought for slavery in the Civil War and\/or supported racist policies have a bird named after him – a name that all of us are forced to use, effectively honoring that person?<\/p>\n We’ve already changed the name of McCown’s Longspur to Thick-billed Longspur because McCown fought to defend slavery as a Confederate general and went to war against\u00a0<\/strong>native tribes. Since we’ve changed McCown’s how can we defend not changing Townsend’s Warbler for example – after all, it’s well documented that Townsend robbed the graves of North American tribes. And then there’s Audubon who trafficked in human remains by decapitating dead Mexican soldiers during the Texas revolution and sent the heads to Samuel George Morton, a notorious practitioner of phrenology – the pseudoscience that attempted to use skull dimensions to prove the superiority of White Europeans to other races.<\/p>\n Beyond memorializing folks who many believe don’t deserve the honor, what’s the value of continuing with the name of a bird that doesn’t tell us anything about the bird itself. The name Kirtland’s Warbler for example tells us absolutely nothing about the bird but the proposed name, Jack Pine Warbler, tells us that they rely on jack pine woodland habitats.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’ll admit that such a massive change would be hard on me in the short run. And as a history buff I’ll miss the romanticism (for lack of a better word) of bird names like Lewis’s Woodpecker (Merriweather Lewis) and Clark’s Nutcracker (William Clark). But it seems to me\u00a0 that rather than cherry picking names of birds named after bad apples and changing just those bird names it would be best to have a hard and fast rule – no eponymous common names, none at all.\u00a0 And the benefits to both birds and humans of making birding more inclusive can’t be overstated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That’s just one bird photographers opinion. If you have thoughts on the matter, either way, I’d be interested in hearing about them and I’ll bet other followers of Feathered Photography would be too.<\/p>\n I’ve had my say so from this point on it’s my intention to stay out of it. Mostly. We’ll see how that<\/em> goes…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Links to relevant and related information on both sides of the controversy: If you read only one, please read the first.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One last thought. Back in the late 60’s when I really began to develop my interest in birds the most common raptor in our marshes was the Marsh Hawk. I was fascinated by that species, and still am, so I knew and recognized it better than any other raptor and better than than most songbirds or shorebirds. A few years later the ‘powers that be’ changed the name of the Marsh Hawk to Northern Harrier and at the time I was far from happy about it. But now I almost never even think of the name Marsh Hawk.<\/em><\/p>\n That gives me some comfort – even I can adapt to name changes. But it might take me a while, especially with so many species involved.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One more “last thought””<\/em><\/p>\n Facebook friend and wildlife artist Carel brest Van Kempen made the following comment on the link to this post. I liked it so much I had to share. “My favorite story about eponymous naming was a South American catfish described forty years or so ago. While the ichthyologists were preparing their description of the new species, its collector lobbied obnoxiously for them to name it after him. They eventually relented, and today the fish is known as Corydoras narcissus.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No fewer than 149 North American bird species named after people may soon acquire new names. The Cooper’s Hawk is only one of them.<\/p>\n\n
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