AOS to discard patronyms in English names (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

Random points in no specific order.

Remember, AOS just isn't Canada and USA. It's also the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. So this means stuff like Chapman's Swift, Xantus's Hummingbird, Strickland's Woodpecker, etc would also require new names.

Clements and IOC has both suppressed support for this initiative back in the beginning of it. Don't assume these changes will NOT be picked up by other checklists.

Finally, on a personal note, My workplace has been just a continual series of %#%storms since the start of the semester. It's nice to have one I can watch from afar that doesn't personally involve me...

 

[gusasp]

So they took a bird that was named for the wholly benign Robert Cushman Murphy, and renamed it after islands known primarily for piracy and child sex abuse.

That just about sums it up.

Does it? At least it gives some sort of information on the bird itself, i.e. that it breeds on that island. That's far more than its existing name does.

 

[gusasp]

Montezuma Quail – Calavera Quail (the Spanish word for skull: its face pattern reminds me of the "Dia de los Muertos" skulls!)
Kittlitz’s Murrelet – Glacier Murrelet
Brandt’s Cormorant – Kelp Cormorant
Bell’s Vireo – Willow Vireo
Woodhouse's Scrub Jay – Juniper Scrub Jay
McKay’s Bunting – Ice Bunting (Bering Sea would introduce another patronym, St Matthew is obviously impossible as well)
Baird’s Sparrow – Dakota Sparrow
Bachman’s Warbler – Carolina Warbler

Love these!

 

[Mysticete]

Also I was scanning through the list of AOS birds, and it's kind of shocking how FEW Patronyms there actually are. You would think with all of the comparatively drab furnariids, brown wrens, and non-descript flycatchers in Central America, there would be more. I didn't take a specific tally, but adding the birds which haven't been recorded in the ABA area maybe gets you an extra....ten? species on the list.

 

[dantheman]

I want to suggest swapping out the patronyms for metronyms ... ie swapping out the bird names for, say, New York Subway Stations.

So eg Anna's Hummingbird would become E 149St Hummingbird, Bell's Vireo would become Astoria Blvd Vireo ... and so on ...

 

[mb1848]

In the American Ornithological Society (AOS) Council Statement on English Bird Names I read word usage that predicts problems. The use of birdwatchers. A term used by no-one except academics. “Isn’t that nice those post Covid normals studying birds now.” The whole exercise strikes me as one of argumentum ab auctoritate. The mentioning of the AOS leaders Ph.Ds. Referring to (NACC), composed of professionals with expertise in bird taxonomy and naming conventions, . Your superiors know better. Weak tea. They keep saying the public will get a voice. Unlikely. The naming of birds has a scientific part but also a folk-lore side made up of names used and handed down by grandparents and others who lived with the birds not in Manhattan. OK they ate Upland Sandpipers in fall. Kill them. Tear out the large part of the language they created for bird names because Swainson’s is a “Harmful English Word”?
Polar Goose? We have at least two poles and that goose is only in one. Saint Nick Goose? Nein Verboten.

 

[Mysticete]

My run of names (some I know are old names that have been out of use, and others folks have already suggested but I approve of them)

Rivoli's Hummingbird - Magnificent Hummingbird (This is an obvious case where the patronym replaced a good name)
Wilson's Plover - Thick-billed Plover
Heermann's Gull - Slate-breasted Gull
Kittlitz's Murrelet - Glacier Murrelet
Harris's Hawk - Social Hawk
Lewis's Woodpecker - Pink-breasted Woodpecker; Crow Woodpecker
Williamson's Sapsucker - Mountain Sapsucker, Cordilleran Sapsucker (Give us back a Cordilleran!)
Cassin's Vireo - Pacific-slope Vireo
Bell's Vireo - Split into Brush and Least Vireo
Steller's Jay - Probably going to be split anyway
Clark's Nutcracker - American Nutcracker
LeConte's Thrasher - Dune Thrasher (Will also take Arrakis Thrasher )
Bachman's Sparrow - Pinewoods Sparrow (This was an old name for it anyway)
Bell's Sparrow - Chaparral Sparrow
Abert's Towhee - Black-masked Towhee
Swainson's Warbler - Canebrake Warbler
Kirtland's Warbler - Jack-pine Warbler (also an old name)
Blackburnian Warbler - Can we make an exception here?
Townsend's Warbler - Hemlock Warbler

Bonus: Inuit Curlew for Eskimo Curlew and Aztec Dove for Inca Dove

 

[raymie]

Random points in no specific order.

Remember, AOS just isn't Canada and USA. It's also the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. So this means stuff like Chapman's Swift, Xantus's Hummingbird, Strickland's Woodpecker, etc would also require new names.

Clements and IOC has both suppressed support for this initiative back in the beginning of it. Don't assume these changes will NOT be picked up by other checklists.

Finally, on a personal note, My workplace has been just a continual series of %#%storms since the start of the semester. It's nice to have one I can watch from afar that doesn't personally involve me...

Regarding the WGAC, I think they'll probably just start recognizing multiple names. See Working Group Avian Checklists | International Ornithologists' Union.

 

[Mysticete]

My concern of course is that the actual names they pick, in a rush to replace them, will mostly be half-assed and horrible like "Thick-billed Longspur".

Regarding the WGAC, I think they'll probably just start recognizing multiple names. See Working Group Avian Checklists | International Ornithologists' Union.

Yeah...I guess the question then becomes how the other checklists which insist on one name respond, IF they even continue to exist as actively curated lists

 

[Mysticete]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1719701237929562360

So, we've had several threads on the topic of changing English names. But as the AOS seem to be about to make sweeping changes to remove patronyms from birds in their area, it might be good to have a thread dedicated to the changes. Some of the species will have alternative names which are already in use and the change will be easy. Others will be more challenging to find a suitable replacement.

They're starting with species with ranges "primarily within the USA and Canada". By my reckoning, there are 90-ish species (using IOC taxonomy) which have a patronym and can be found in the US/Canada.

Rather than have another argument about the merits of removing patronyms or not (let's save that for one of the many threads on the topic). Why not let us have some fun and come up with/predict some of the new names that we will have to become familiar with.

Here is a list of the species I've come up with:

Ross's Goose
Steller's Eider
Barrow's Goldeneye
Gambel's Quail
Vaux's Swift
Rivoli's Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Costa's Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird
Ridgway's Rail
Clark's Grebe
Wilson's Plover
Baird's Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Sabine's Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Ross's Gull
Franklin's Gull
Heermann's Gull
Cabot's Tern
Forster's Tern
Kittlitz's Murrelet
Scripps's Murrelet
Craveri's Murrelet
Cassin's Auklet
Wilson's Storm Petrel
Leach's Storm Petrel
Tristram's Storm Petrel
Murphy's Petrel
Cook's Petrel
Cory's Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater
Newell's Shearwater
Audubon's Shearwater
Brandt's Cormorant
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Lewis's Woodpecker
Williamson's Sapsucker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Say's Phoebe
Hammond's Flycatcher
Couch's Kingbird
Cassin's Kingbird
Hutton's Vireo
Cassin's Vireo
Bell's Vireo
Steller's Jay
Woodhouse's Scrub Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Bewick's Wren
Bendire's Thrasher
LeConte's Thrasher
Townsend's Solitaire
Swainson's Thrush
Bicknell's Thrush
Sprague's Pipit
Cassin's Finch
Lawrence's Goldfinch
Smith's Longspur
McKay's Bunting
Botteri's Sparrow
Cassin's Sparrow
Bachman's Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow
Bell's Sparrow
LeConte's Sparrow
Nelson's Sparrow
Baird's Sparrow
Henslow's Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Abert's Towhee
Scott's Oriole
Audubon's Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Brewer's Blackbird
Bachman's Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Virginia's Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Kirtland's Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Audubon's Warbler
Grace's Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Morelet's Seedeater

And here is a link to a Google Sheet where I'll keep track of ideas people come up with: AOS renaming

One note: A suggested name for Montezuma Quail is Harlequin Quail in the excel file, however that name is already in use for a species from Africa. I don't think anyone wants African Harlequin Quail and American Harlequin Quail, especially for unrelated birds...

 

[Lerxst]

Now that the camp that lobbied for these changes has secured this significant victory, I expect they will waste little time moving on to their next targets. They've already indicated that they have a problem with "Flesh-footed", "Bald", and other adjectives. They are certainly aware of, and bothered by, honorifics creeping in via place names, citing "Hudsonian" for example. I'm guessing they will be coming for these names next, in phase II. Phase III will be the latin names.

 

[dantheman]

One note: A suggested name for Montezuma Quail is Harlequin Quail in the excel file, however that name is already in use for a species from Africa. I don't think anyone wants African Harlequin Quail and American Harlequin Quail, especially for unrelated birds...

It's jester quail ...

 

[Sangahyando]

As alluded to earlier, the American Ornithological Society is literally named after an Italian slave trader. They should cast the beam out of their own eye before they even think of lecturing to anyone else.

I can think of a number of words beginning with "A" that they could use instead of "American"...

 

[Phil Andrews]

In the American Ornithological Society (AOS) Council Statement on English Bird Names I read word usage that predicts problems. The use of birdwatchers. A term used by no-one except academics. “Isn’t that nice those post Covid normals studying birds now.” The whole exercise strikes me as one of argumentum ab auctoritate. The mentioning of the AOS leaders Ph.Ds. Referring to (NACC), composed of professionals with expertise in bird taxonomy and naming conventions, . Your superiors know better. Weak tea. They keep saying the public will get a voice. Unlikely. The naming of birds has a scientific part but also a folk-lore side made up of names used and handed down by grandparents and others who lived with the birds not in Manhattan. OK they ate Upland Sandpipers in fall. Kill them. Tear out the large part of the language they created for bird names because Swainson’s is a “Harmful English Word”?
Polar Goose? We have at least two poles and that goose is only in one. Saint Nick Goose? Nein Verboten.

Surely they ate Bartram's Sandpiper?

 

[JWN Andrewes]

It's jester quail ...

How about Motley Quail.

 

[raymie]

My concern of course is that the actual names they pick, in a rush to replace them, will mostly be half-assed and horrible like "Thick-billed Longspur".

Yeah...I guess the question then becomes how the other checklists which insist on one name respond, IF they even continue to exist as actively curated lists

This is the AOS we're talking about. Can you imagine these names not being half-assed?

My primary hope here is that eBird allows us to retain the old names if we wish. If IOC is maintaining multiple common names I think this is likely, especially considering eBird already lets us choose between "gray" or "grey".

 

[dantheman]

How about Motley Quail.

It just sounds a bit ... raggedy or common?!?!


Is there a a quail sp. we can name Dasterdly Quail though?? (Or maybe a desert quail species we can rename as Dusterdly Quail ... )

 

[Andy Lakin]

Are there many species named for women? Surely can't be many!

 

[Xenospiza]

Bonus: Inuit Curlew for Eskimo Curlew and Aztec Dove for Inca Dove

If they are having issues with white men because they were white men, how about having issues with the words Aztec and Inca, which are indelibly linked to human sacrifice at a grand scale?
Mexican/Nahua and Peruvian/Quechua are better options.

 

[Xenospiza]

One note: A suggested name for Montezuma Quail is Harlequin Quail in the excel file, however that name is already in use for a species from Africa. I don't think anyone wants African Harlequin Quail and American Harlequin Quail, especially for unrelated birds...

See my proposal above.