Force of habit. There's a certain threshold of persistence required to accomplish an honorary name change, and the Cayuga Bird Club seems never to have risen to it. Even the club website refers to the place as "Renwick Sanctuary", so club members can't be faulted for following along. Fuertes Sanctuary is a fine name, though, and perhaps the club should give another effort.
Geo Kloppel Bowmaker & Restorer 227 Tupper Rd Spencer NY 14883 607 564 7026 On May 8, 2012, at 8:26 AM, Matthew Medler <m...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Hi All, > > The discovery of the Yellow-throated Warbler in the woods south of Stewart > Park highlighted a question that I've wondered about for some time: why do > most Ithaca birders refer to this area as "Renwick Woods" or "Renwick Bird > Sanctuary" rather than "Fuertes Bird Sanctuary?" Based on the City of > Ithaca's web site, it appears that the official name for this area is in fact > "Fuertes Bird Sanctuary": > > http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/parks/stewartpark.cfm > > Even putting this aside, it's always puzzled me that Ithaca birders would > favor the name of an early Ithaca settler over Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Not > only is Fuertes one of America's greatest bird artists, but he is also one of > our most illustrious Ithaca birding ancestors, having been very active in the > Cayuga Bird Club and the local birding community for many years. I would > think that we would want to celebrate Fuertes's name and use it to refer to > the bird sanctuary that was named in his memory after his untimely death. > > I am truly interested in learning why it is that so many use the name Renwick > to refer to the Fuertes Bird Sanctuary. But, in the absence of any compelling > reason for favoring Renwick over Fuertes, I'd also encourage birders to use > the sanctuary's official name and honor Fuertes's legacy in the process. > > Matt Medler > Ithaca > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
