Birds in North America will be renamed to avoid any harmful historical associations with people
https://apnews.com/article/bird-renaming...4a2d1f55e8
INTRO: Birds in North America will no longer be named after people, the American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday. Next year, the organization will begin to rename around 80 species found in the U.S. and Canada.
“There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,” the organization’s president, Colleen Handel, said in a statement. “Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.”
Rather than review each bird named after a person individually, all such birds will be renamed, the organization announced.
Birds that will be renamed include those currently called Wilson’s warbler and Wilson’s snipe, both named after the 19th century naturalist Alexander Wilson. Audubon’s shearwater, a seabird named for John James Audubon, also will get a new name.
In 2020, the organization renamed a bird once referring to a Confederate Army general, John P. McCown, as the thick-billed longspur. “I’m really happy and excited about the announcement,” said Emily Williams, an ornithologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the decision... (MORE - details)
https://apnews.com/article/bird-renaming...4a2d1f55e8
INTRO: Birds in North America will no longer be named after people, the American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday. Next year, the organization will begin to rename around 80 species found in the U.S. and Canada.
“There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,” the organization’s president, Colleen Handel, said in a statement. “Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.”
Rather than review each bird named after a person individually, all such birds will be renamed, the organization announced.
Birds that will be renamed include those currently called Wilson’s warbler and Wilson’s snipe, both named after the 19th century naturalist Alexander Wilson. Audubon’s shearwater, a seabird named for John James Audubon, also will get a new name.
In 2020, the organization renamed a bird once referring to a Confederate Army general, John P. McCown, as the thick-billed longspur. “I’m really happy and excited about the announcement,” said Emily Williams, an ornithologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the decision... (MORE - details)