I agree Dave, but I feel it is the right decision for the wrong reasons. Changing the names to better describe the bird, good.
Changing the name because of what someone did in the past is wrong. you really have to look at the person in the context of their time, their morals and their laws. If the bird was named for someone other than the discoverer, then by all means change it. But if it is named after the person who discovered the bird you really have to consider the contributions made by this person and ask do they outweigh the faults? And what about the Latin names. A lot of them are named for people. Are we going to change those also? Again while I am in favor of changing the names to better describe the birds, let that be the reason for the change and not for any agenda which may or may not have anything to do with ornithology. It is a slippery slope we climb my friends. Ornamythelogy. The belief that you will actully see the bird every one else is reporting. Carl On 11/3/2023 23:56, Dave Nutter wrote: > Bird names for birds. Cool concept. The article includes many good > reasons. We will have to learn some new names for old birds. I look > forward to this. > > In many cases, the person who first described a species for science > decided to name it after someone who had nothing to do with the bird, > making the people-name even more irrelevant to the bird. > > I hope one of the benefits of the new names will be that they relate > better to the birds’ appearance, behavior, or habitat. This will make > the species and their field marks easier to learn and remember, > which I think will be more welcoming to all new birders as well as to > any birders traveling to unfamiliar areas. I struggle with many > western North American species named for people. > > Also, Kenn Kaufmann’s story is classic. > > - - Dave Nutter > > Begin forwarded message: > >> *Subject:* *[The Washington Post] Dozens of bird names honoring >> enslavers and racists will be changed* >> >> The American Ornithological Society says it will alter all human >> names of North American birds, starting with up to 80 species. >> https://wapo.st/3Mr8fDw >> > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME.htm> > Rules and Information > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES.htm> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > ABA <https://www.aba.org/birding-news/> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
