Many of the common, English-language names for American birds have changed repeatedly over the years. In my time as a birder, the largest egret in Yolo County has been called American, common, and now great egret. Yolo’s most numerous jay has been called California, scrub, western scrub, and now California scrub jay. The local kite has been white-tailed, then black-shouldered, and now white-tailed kite once more.
The choices for bird names reflect numerous factors, such as conspicuous or unique characteristics of the bird, notions about genetic relationships, willingness to abide by names used in other English-speaking countries, and a desire to honor specific persons. Bird names change because the perceived importance of specific factors waxes and wanes, and because the composition of the elite group that chooses the names also sometimes changes.
The American Ornithological Society (AOS) has long held the power to determine the English names for North American birds. In the nineteenth century it was popular to name birds after people, and about seventy commonly-occurring North American species are named that way. Recent increased awareness and sensitivity about racism and other forms of discrimination have led the AOS to reconsider this practice, because some of the men for whom birds were named were supporters of slavery, violence toward American Indians, and other expressions of colonialism.
The AOS has formed a committee to recommend how to identify and change bird names regarded as objectionable, drawing on the perspectives of a broad ethnic and geographic diversity of ornithologists and birders. This is a departure from previous revisions of bird names, when the AOS relied strictly on professional ornithologists, almost all of whom were, at least until recently, politically conservative white men. The AOS was explicit in seeking diversity and inclusion in the committee, a desire reflecting the left-leaning politics of most of its current members.
Whatever the committee decides, there will be continuing controversy over exactly which, if any, personal names should be tossed out. A proposal that would at least partly avoid this controversy is to eliminate all honorific names for birds. This idea would also provide an opportunity to give helpful names, those that describe the birds, their appearance, habits or haunts. The proposal was introduced this past April at a meeting of the AOS Congress on English Bird Names, with significant grassroots support, including National Audubon and the American Birding Association. Its fate appears to rest with the committee, whose recommendations are due early next year.
For my two cents’ worth, a sensible resolution of the naming issue will seek to avoid drawing bird lovers into the culture wars between liberals and conservatives, and instead give us what we all want, which is to help us learn about the lives of birds. This is what drew us into birding in the first place.
For more background, and a sense of the strong feelings around this topic, see:
Bird Names for Birds [website]
Honorific bird names facts and figures [The Cottonwood Post (Steve Hampton’s blog)]
The Legacy of Eponymous Bird Names [by Yolo Audubon board member Rick Williams]
Racism lurks in names given to plants and animals. That’s starting to change. [Science News]
Staff of the Yolo Habitat Conservancy, an arm of county government, asked me to remind our readers that the YHC is seeking landowners interested in selling or donating a habitat conservation easement to protect certain at-risk animal species in the valley parts of the county. The current priority is for farmland (row crops, field crops, grazing land). Visit www.yolohabitatconservancy.org/landowners or email info@yolohabitatconservancy.org for more information.
Michael Perrone, YAS Conservation Chair