And yet the Scrub Jay is now two Jays; one named for a state, the other named after naturalist Samuel Washington Woodhouse. They really need to address issues such as the Orange-crowned Warbler. Now that's a stupid name! And while I'm on my "mini-rant", if Chickadees are named for their vocals, how about renaming Killdeer. It doesn't sound like kill deer to me. And surely we can rename Virginia Rail something like "Kiddick"!
Susan Rosine Brighton On Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 9:11 AM Timothy Barksdale <[email protected]> wrote: > Gentle Birders, > Along this line of thinking is the former McCown's Longspur.... now > saddled with an abomination of a name. When I moved to Montana over 20 > years ago, I found colonies of this species nesting on the tops of several > buttes near my home. The extreme shortgrass was like an extensive putting > green, of very high diversity. The occasional Horned Lark or Long-billed > Curlew would appear in these locations but other wise, the aforementioned > Longspur dominated. > > The courtship flight is so utterly adorable- calling while fluttering to > the earth, tail spread so wide it is easily spotted at a distance. The huge > white panels with the narrow, dark and inverted T is so diagnostic and > easily used to identify this species. > > I propose that the assigned genus remain the same so the > nerd-ornitholigists obsessed with following archaic protocols have their > "win". But along with many other things, our past time continues to a lot > of stupid things which hurt out growth and thwart more widespread adoption. > Not naming birds better is one stupidity which follows this trend. > > Bay-winged, Crescent-chested, or the White tailed- Grey, or even > Fluttering Longspur... anything is better than Thick-billed. Sorry > nomenclature committee that is just a boneheaded name. > > Very sincerely, > > Timothy Barksdale > Choteau, MT > On Monday, April 19, 2021 at 3:56:31 PM UTC-5 [email protected] wrote: > >> I can’t think of anything better than listing a Kwish-Kwishee Jay on my >> eBirds tally. >> Van Rudd >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Apr 18, 2021, at 15:43, Emil Yappert <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> +1 >> >> >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On Apr 16, 2021, at 7:27 AM, Nathan Pieplow <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> Why should Steller get a jay named after him when he spent only a few >> hours with the species and learned virtually nothing about it? He just >> happened to be the first European person to shoot one. >> >> "The Makahs tell a story about how the bird we know as the Steller's Jay >> - the bird the Makahs call *Kwish-kwishee* - got its crest. The mink, >> Kwahtie, tried to shoot his mother, the jay, with an arrow but missed. Her >> crest is ruffled to this day." >> >> https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/how-stellers-jay-got-its-crest >> >> Doesn't the name "Kwish-kwishee" ring with more romance than "Steller's >> Jay"? >> >> Nathan Pieplow >> Boulder >> >> On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 4:09 PM Ira Sanders <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Bob >>> Maybe it will turn out that Steller was a Confederate general and they >>> will change the name to Mountain Jay >>> Ira Sanders >>> >>> On Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:30 PM Robert Righter <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Peter the Great,Tsar of all of Russia, invited Georg W. Steller, a >>>> German scientist to come to Russia and help explore and catalogue it’s >>>> natural history. In 1741 Steller joined the Vitus Bering Expedition in >>>> sailing east to discover what was out there. After several weeks they >>>> bumped into new land now known as Alaska. Steller discovered a jay, now >>>> known as Steller’s Jay. The expedition sailed west exploring the Aleutians. >>>> Out of many of Steller’s new discoveries was a new eagle, now known as >>>> Steller’s Sea Eagle. >>>> >>>> Doesn’t the eponymic name Steller’s Jay evoke more romance, interest, >>>> and wonder than if it was just called, for convenience, say “Mountain” Jay? >>>> >>>> Bob Righter >>>> Denver, CO >>>> >>> -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CACPnx8W0ELwHBhaq2WRU7tAcV5JLpm%3Dt05WencbiqQy2DUrpmg%40mail.gmail.com.
