Brian et al,
Don't forget about Pioneer Naturalists by the great entomologist Dr. Howard
Ensign Evans. He gained fame at Harvard working along side the likes of E. O.
Wilson before deciding mid-career to make a change and come West to CSU to
study ground-nesting wasps and toil in a region of the country where new
discoveries arose from almost every one of his field visits. This book by Dr.
Evans seeks to celebrate the efforts of obscure naturalists, lest they and
their stories be forgotten over time. Yes, many of them are European doctors
and such who joined exploratory military expeditions into lands long occupied
and known by Native Americans. But as evidence Dr. Evans recognized the
sovereignty of these people, many of the insects Dr. Evans himself formally
described in the scientific literature as "new species" he named for Native
American tribes. One tiny wasp yours truly happened to lay eyes on and collect
at Lamar Community College was given the scientific name Dipogon kiowa
("two-bearded wasp of Kiowa country") in recognition of the area's early
inhabitants. That same summer a CSU colleague discovered another little wasp
in the same genus at Mesa Verde and Dr. Evans named it D. anasazi. In defense
of this name, it was constructed before anthropologists determined a better
name for the cliff dwellers of that region would be "ancient Puebloans".
I have promoted Dr. Evans' writing in previous COBIRDS posts but it bears
repeating that his other books are equally good including Cache la Poudre: The
Natural History of a Rocky Mountain River, The Natural History of North
American Beewolves, The Pleasures of Entomology: Portraits of Insects and the
People Who Study Them, Australia: A Natural History, William Morton Wheeler,
Biologist, The Wasps, The Biology of Social Insects, Wasp Farm, and others.
Perhaps his most famous book, Life on a Little Known Planet has been printed in
at least 26 languages.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Brian
Johnson <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2021 9:22 PM
To: Colorado Birds <[email protected]>
Subject: [cobirds] Re: Changing Common Names of birds; example, Steller’s Jay
This has been an interesting thread. I have had an interest in the names behind
the bird names. I know of two books that might be of interest for anyone.
Who's Bird: Common Bird Names and the People they commemorate by Bob Boelens
and Micheal Watkins
This book covers the world and includes names up to the time of publishing,
2004, as we know things have changed since then. It is an encyclopedia so the
entries are brief. Also goes over extinct bird names if it honors someone.
There is also an explanation for how to name birds.
One more local in interest
Audubon to Xantus: The Lives of those Commemorated in North American Bird Names
by Barabara Means
Published in 1992 so some bird names have changed, Xantus Murelet has since
been split and is not longer a name for any bird (but Xantus still has a
Hummingbird in Baja California) it has longer entries for the people, it
however only covers birds north of the border. Their is an appendix that covers
birds that are subspecies and birds that were once considered spices but are
now subspecies. This author also has Biographies for Birdwatchers, which covers
the Western Paleartic and includes overlap from the other book, such as
Alexander Wilson, who was from Scotland.
Anyway, I am a librarian so I wanted to offer some books. Both are out of print
however but you can get them used or from your library.
Good reading, good birding
Brian Johnson,
Englewood CO
On Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6:57:16 AM UTC-6 [email protected] wrote:
Really entertaining dialogue on naming birds, often named for the least
conspicuous feature. I also love bird names that might be longer than the
actual bird...like Northern Beardless Tyrannulet. (Curious....Is there a
Tyrannult with a beard?...My mind is picturing this!!) Along with Hugh's
disdain for Least (which I agree) would be the boastful and judgement laddened
"Greater"....like Greater Yellowlegs.
John Rawinski
Monte Vista, CO
On Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 12:30:12 PM UTC-6 [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
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