Last November, the American Ornithological Society, or AOS, announced that it might change the widespread names of all American birds named after folks. There are 152 such “eponymic” names (that’s, birds which are named after a particular person, like Bicknell’s Thrush) on the AOS’ official guidelines, and the group is planning to start out with between 70 and 80 species predominantly discovered within the U.S. and Canada. In the approaching years, birds like Cooper’s Hawk, Wilson’s Snipe, and Lincoln’s Sparrow will likely be stripped of their eponyms and given new widespread English names.
The eponymic naming situation has been heating up within the hen world for a couple of years now. Birds obtained their English names once they have been “discovered” by Western scientists, or in any other case recognized as a brand new species. This meant ornithologists had the dignity of arising with no matter moniker they needed, and ceaselessly named birds in honor of a benefactor, a buddy, or the person who shot the primary identified specimen.
But a rising variety of ornithologists and nonscientist birders are questioning why we’re caught with names selected a whim lots of of years in the past, particularly when the names aren’t excellent. Some offensive names have been modified way back, just like the 2000 transition of the hen now referred to as the Long-tailed Duck, however the focus has since shifted to birds named for unsavory historic figures. The motion actually started in 2020, when the group Bird Names for Birds efficiently petitioned the AOS to alter the identify of a species of grassland hen then named after Confederate Maj. Gen. John P. McCown to the inoffensive (and extra descriptive) Thick-billed Longspur.
The AOS took a broader have a look at eponymic birds within the wake of its Longspur resolution, and its November announcement landed as a shock throughout the pure sciences. Rather than try the unattainable activity of reviewing the folks with birds named after them one after the other, the AOS mentioned it might simply scrap all of them and begin from scratch.
But that’s the place the actual problem is available in—as a result of a lot of hen names are fairly unhealthy. Not offensive unhealthy, like named after a Confederate basic, however simply unsatisfactory unhealthy. There was by no means any standardization for a way widespread hen names have been granted, which suggests these names are everywhere in the place and supply little steering for what renaming ought to seem like.
Many species are named after some distinguished function or figuring out trait, just like the Red-faced Warbler or the Swallow-tailed Kite. Others are named for his or her habitat (Pine Warbler, Boreal Owl); their relative dimension or vary in comparison with related birds (Lesser Yellowlegs, Eastern Bluebird); their vocalizations (Warbling Vireo, Piping Plover); or the placement the place they have been first found (Savannah Sparrow, Kentucky Warbler). Others nonetheless have functionally random names, just like the onomatopoeic Bobolink and Veery, or Osprey, which is derived from the Old French phrase ospreit, itself coming from a Latin phrase which means “bird of prey.”
None of those classes are universally satisfying. “Prominent feature” names appear to be the preferred as a result of they assist birders make an identification, however species like Red-bellied Woodpecker and Ring-necked Duck, whose figuring out marks are almost unattainable to see when you’re not holding the hen in your hand, have lengthy been a supply of annoyance for birders. Plus, many “prominent feature” names aren’t actually very useful, in that they could solely apply to the male hen and never the feminine (just like the Black-throated Blue Warbler), or that the function solely exists throughout a part of the yr (Bay-breasted Warbler).
Imperfect names are the rule, not the exception. Calling a hen a Lesser Yellowlegs is simply useful when it’s standing subsequent to a Greater Yellowlegs. Naming a hen after its vocalization is simply useful when the hen is vocalizing, and onomatopoeic names aren’t actually “helpful” in any respect. Perhaps worst of all, a few of the dozens of species which are named after explicit geographic areas have ludicrous ties between species and spot: Cape May Warblers and Philadelphia Vireos solely migrate by means of their namesake cities, and the quantity of people that see Connecticut Warblers in Connecticut annually can in all probability be counted on one hand.
The level is, it’s going to be exhausting to provide you with new names we will all agree on, and it’s not clear how the AOS will embark upon doing so. The group has mentioned it can “conduct an open, inclusive, and scientifically rigorous pilot program in 2024 to develop its new approach to English bird names in the U.S. and Canada”—however there are few specifics but, and no simple solution to set up the general public and whittle down ideas within the lawless and nonsensical world of hen names. But the AOS has dedicated to alter: Unlike the closed-door choices of the previous, this will likely be a public course of. The plan is to take ideas—from area marks, Indigenous names, colloquialisms … from anyplace—slender it down, by some means, to a couple choices, and let folks determine.
Though it sounds daunting, I feel it’s going to be a whole lot of enjoyable. For the primary time, the general public could have the prospect to assume deeply concerning the birds we love and provide you with new issues to name them. As I discovered when colleagues and I not too long ago thought by means of new names for widespread eponymic birds in Maine, this can be a course of filled with thrilling questions: What makes a Barrow’s Goldeneye a Barrow’s Goldeneye? What concerning the Cooper’s Hawk—its energy? Its dimension?—needs to be included in its identify?
The level wasn’t that the names we steered—“Carbonated Sparrow” for Nelson’s Sparrow or “Summit Thrush” for Bicknell’s Thrush—have been excellent, however quite that we have been in a position to have a look at widespread birds with new perception. Our new hen names gained’t be superb—none of them are—however, for the primary time, they’ll belong to us.
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