#bird names

[snailkites]

Big news for bird names: American Ornithological Society to replace eponyms

AOS intends to change all offensive and eponymous (named after people) common names of birds in the USA and Canada.

Renaming these species will be done with involvement of the public and overseen by a new committee made up of ornithologists, social scientists, and communications and taxonomy experts.

AOS will work with the ornithological societies of Central and South America determine who in these regions will maintain stewardship of common English names.

AOS announcement: https://americanornithology.org/about/english-bird-names-project/american-ornithological-society-council-statement-on-english-bird-names

More information under the cut.

How do bird names work? Scientific names (binomials like Zonotrichia albicollis) are set by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. These names are meant to be unique, unchanging, and universally recognized. Common names, on the other hand, are more fluid. The American Ornithological Society is the recognized authority on English-language common names for North American birds, published in their annual Checklist.

The larger context. Ornithologists name birds after people to commemorate those individuals, but this create problems. What do you do when a common name is racist, or when a bird is named after someone who, frankly, sucked? AOS has changed bird names for both of these reasons already.

In 2000 AOS changes the common name of Clangula hyemalis from a racist word for Native women to Long-tailed Duck (although at the time, they denied it was because of "political correctness")

2021: AOS changes the common name of Rhynchophanes mccownii from McCown's Longspur to Thick-billed Longspur. McCown was a Confederate. The push to rename this bird was a flashpoint in the #birdnames4birds movement.

Why not decide one-by-one? Sometimes it's obvious. For example, John James Audubon was a grave-robbing, slave-owning racist; birds such as Audubon's Oriole and Audubon's Shearwater are named after him. Although the National Audubon Society has voted to keep their name ("won't someone consider the branding"), many chapters have changed their names, e.g. the Chicaco Bird Alliance. Other individuals with birds named after them are less well-known or clear-cut in how much they did or did not suck. Removing all eponyms, rather than debating who sucks on a case-by-case basis, will cut down on the arguments.

How will this actually happen? It's not yet clear. Any free-for-all-poll might result in some Birdy McBirdFaces. No timeline either. But it sounds like this really is happening!

#ornithology #birding #birdnamesforbirds #bird names #taxonomy #american ornithological society

[hometoursandotherstuff]

#ornithology humor #bird names #birds #birbs #other stuff

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Hey, Birblr! Heads up!

Quote:

The move comes as part of a broader effort to diversify birding and make it more welcoming to people of all races and backgrounds.

"We've come to understand that there are certain names that have offensive or derogatory connotations that cause pain to people, and that it is important to change those, to remove those as barriers to their participation in the world of birds," she says.

The project will begin next year and initially focus on 70 to 80 bird species that occur primarily in the United States and Canada. That's about 6 or 7 percent of the total species in this geographic region.

The society has promised to engage the public, and says that birds' scientific names won't be changed as part of this initiative.

#birblr #American Ornithological Society #bird names #NPR morning edition #2 November 2023 #renaming birds based on their features #not some person who “discovered” them #beginning 2024

[lifewithchronicpain]

Get ready to say goodbye to a lot of familiar bird names, like Anna's Hummingbird, Gambel's Quail, Lewis's Woodpecker, Bewick's Wren, Bullock's Oriole, and more. That's because the American Ornithological Society has vowed to change the English names of all bird species currently named after people, along with any other bird names deemed offensive or exclusionary. "Names have power and power can be for the good or it can be for the bad," says Colleen Handel, the society's president and a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska. "We want these names to be powerful in a really good way."

The move comes as part of a broader effort to diversify birding and make it more welcoming to people of all races and backgrounds. "We've come to understand that there are certain names that have offensive or derogatory connotations that cause pain to people, and that it is important to change those, to remove those as barriers to their participation in the world of birds," she says. The project will begin next year and initially focus on 70 to 80 bird species that occur primarily in the United States and Canada. That's about 6 or 7 percent of the total species in this geographic region. (Read more at link)

As a birder, I like the idea. Descriptive names are helpful in birdwatching. And as the article explained, some names have already been changed like a longspur named after a confederate general. It's not like the birds care what they are named, any preference for current names is just sentimentality on our part.

#birding #bird watching #birder #birds #bird names #ornithology #article

[lydiarzack]

Just roasting this little goth bird 😭

#immature dark lord #bird watching #birds #birding #nature is beautiful #bird names

[bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Ural Owl

^Image credit: Jyrki Salmi

Ural Owl (Strix uralensis)

The Ural Owl was given its scientific and common names by Peter Simon Pallas in 1771, due to the type specimen having been collected in the Ural Mountains of Russia. It is referred to in various languages by various names, some of which translate to "attacking owl", "long tailed owl", and "goshawk-owl". They are thought to be closely related to Tawny Owls.

#bird of the day #ural owl #birds of europe #birds of russia #birdwatching #birding #owls #owl #ural owls #strix uralensis #birds of prey #bird of prey #bird facts #ornithology #bird behaviour #bird names #bird taxonomy #birds #bird

[rikopatter]

i love names that birds have because you'll get names like: common swallow (normal! birds swallow stuff) and mourning dove (it sounds a bit sad so that makes sense)

then you'll get shit like: common grackle (no that is not), white breasted nuthatch (did they hatch a nut? how? so many questions about everything except their boobs), and oilbird (not related to oil at all but they can fucking echolocate???)

#birds #bird names #this all stemmed from me seeing the word Grackle and dying #fuckin birds man

[scytheral]

i was wondering if i could get bird/owl themed names??

Those were Quite fun To do , && His Majesty did These separately For better Organization. Hope you ' ll Enjoy them. ^^

— Bird themed Namesㅤ!ㅤㅤ))

Angel.ㅤBuba.ㅤBubbles.ㅤBusenne.ㅤBuscene.ㅤBud.ㅤBuddie.ㅤBuddy.ㅤBirdie.ㅤBusque.*ㅤCoco.ㅤChocosle.ㅤChickie.ㅤCupid.*ㅤChip.ㅤChipie.ㅤDuffle.*ㅤDale.ㅤDallie.ㅤDaffy.ㅤDais.ㅤFeathers.*ㅤGoldie.ㅤGoldilocks.ㅤGoldiecky.ㅤGoldiky.ㅤGolky.ㅤGolocky.ㅤGoldy.ㅤOzzy.ㅤPie.ㅤPreudeur.*ㅤRascalo.ㅤRaso.ㅤRazo.*ㅤRascomeo.ㅤRasmeo.*ㅤRavouir.*ㅤRasceo.ㅤRascameo.ㅤRoscal.ㅤRomel.*ㅤRomal.ㅤRorascal.ㅤRomeoscal.ㅤRomescal.ㅤRocoldie.ㅤRockie.ㅤRocke.ㅤRoldie.ㅤRoldie.ㅤRodie.ㅤRockoldie.ㅤRogoldie.ㅤScreech.ㅤSquawk.ㅤSoudelent.*ㅤZipzu.ㅤZappy.ㅤZizu.ㅤZippu.

— Owl themed Namesㅤ!ㅤ🦉ㅤ))

Archimedes.ㅤArts.ㅤArtes.ㅤArdes.ㅤArdes.ㅤAres.ㅤArtimedes.ㅤAvalar.ㅤArtemis.*ㅤApollo.*ㅤArchimes.*ㅤArmis.ㅤAris.ㅤArchis.*ㅤAremis.ㅤArcis.*ㅤArchemis.*ㅤArchimetemis.ㅤArchartemis.ㅤArchitemis.ㅤArchimis.ㅤArchirtemis.ㅤArchimedes.*ㅤAgesth.ㅤErrol.ㅤErythne.ㅤEryniv.ㅤOwluro.ㅤOwluro.ㅤOwlo.ㅤOwro.ㅤRowlet.ㅤRouse.ㅤRousenne.ㅤRoustevioer.*ㅤScreechie.ㅤScreamlette.ㅤScrenvier.ㅤScrowdelette.ㅤScrowvier.

01 : * Are ones The sweet Idol also uses. Basically giving Them away.

02 : Any of These can Be alteread By such as Removing or Adding.

ABCDEFGHiJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

#ꕀㅤ🧠ㅤ⦂ㅤTrust & Truly. #Names #themed names #bird #owl #Bird names #Owl names

[kattahj]

I was checking etymonline.com for the word “hover” and

Behold the windfucker.

#etymology #kestrel #birds #animal names #bird names

[macaw-squawks]

Name + pronouns for a crow + cockatrice!

Requested by: 🐦‍⬛⭐️ anon

Hope this works, anon!! Tried themeing theme around crowcore stuff, hoping it worked lol- let me know if you'd like any changes!!

Names

Merla

Odin

Raven (ha irony)

Russle

Mayhem

Poe

Luna

Talon

Altair

Birdie

Havoc

Abaddon

Devlin

Pronouns

Crow/crowself

Shiny/shinyself

Coin/coinself

Glare/glareself

Feather/featherself

Wing/wingself

Danger/dangerself

Peck/peckself

Scale/scaleself

Egg/eggself

Talon/talonself

Chaos/chaoself

#name request #mod macaw 🦜 #pronoun request #bird names #bird pronouns #crow names #crow pronouns #crow therian #cockatrice kin #cockatrice names #cockatrice pronouns

[3ggyb0y]

birds are so fucked up. like. why the fuck is it called the humungulous fat titty red milf cock? i am not writing that on an exam.

#birds #shitpost #shitposting #shit man #🐛 3gg posting 🐛 #bird names

[wachinyeya]

#birds #good news #environmentalism #science #environment #nature #animals #bird names

[hometoursandotherstuff]

#birds #birbs #ornithology #bird names #other stuff

[hawkmothdraws]

I love ornithology because you never know if the hawk you found with a red tail is gonna be called “Great Bastard” or “Red-Tailed Hawk”

#ornithology #birds are weird #bird #bird names #birds aren’t real

[bestmeangirlcompetition]

If anyone ever makes a "named-after-birds" tournament, you must tag me. You must.

#tournament poll #tournament poll meta #birds #bird #bird names #len'en #tagging len'en because that's the fandom I'm aiming to submit as much of as possible

[trigonognathus]

with news of the american ornithological society deciding to replace all eponyms in bird names, ie birds named after a real life person, my mind went to Eleonora's Falcon, a small hawk found in the Mediterranean region that winters in Madagascar. The name comes from Elianora D'Arborea, who was Juighessa, aka the ruler of a Judicate, what the island of Sardinia was split into from the 9th to the 15th century. During her reign over the Judicate of Arborea from 1347 to 1403, Elianora updated and enacted a codex of laws called the Carta de Logu, the first collection of norms of the island, written in Sardinian language. The norms Elianora put down in the Carta were a mix of historical rules and new ones that made it so effective that it was in use from the year 1392 to 1827, when it was replaced by the Savoyard code. From Wikipedia:

Additionally, and this is where Eleanor's Falcon comes in, the Carta de Logu was the first codex of laws in history (or at least in Europe) to protect hawk and falcon nests from illegal hunting! So that is why I believe if would be nice if this specific bird could keep its eponym.

and here's a not contemporary painting of Elianora writing the Carta:

#sardinia #bird names