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  1. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    On the subject of judging people by present-day standards, this is a really good link from the other (petition) thread, accessed via the Stability for English Bird Names website: The Arrogance of the Present It posits a 'thought experiment' set in 2173, when everyone is vegan and synthetic...
  2. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    This is explained well by Van Remsen on the David Lindo podcast - he wasn't going to be singled out, he was just first in what was going to be a process of weeding out those deemed to have done bad things.
  3. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    I wouldn't put it in quite those terms, but basically yes - you've got to be realistic about the likely consequences of your decision in the real world, and work within those parameters, ideally appealing to shared values. I don't mean pandering to extreme views either (like those who no doubt...
  4. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Given what I understand to be the polarised nature of US politics at the moment, this was an entirely predictable consequence of the BN4B / AOS decision. The proponents of the change should have foreseen that this was going to be seen as another salvo in the culture wars, this time originating...
  5. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    You're not alone...actually Van Gogh's Tragopan would be a great name! Oh wait....
  6. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    I'd better not mention my Wallonian cousins then :ROFLMAO:! I also live in hope of an armchair jay tick, at least if Brandtii is ever split..
  7. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Definitely what this thread has been missing so far is a Reedling-haters sub-thread
  8. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    I'm one of those people who find eponyms easier to remember than descriptive names - I also find scientific names of plants easier to remember than English names, especially the relatively recently-concocted names of bryophytes, so maybe I am just odd :) . Getting away from North America, I can...
  9. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Corporate sponsorship of birds...there's an idea to attract more resources for their conservation... Prior to the Saudi takeover at Newcastle we could've renamed black-legged kittiwake as the Sports Direct Gull ©
  10. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    You can surely be capable of recognising cultural imperialism without being geographically located in the affected area.
  11. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Some excellent points in these responses Andy - Van Remsen's is especially worth reading for its brevity and directness : 'an edict from the Global North to the Global South'
  12. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    You make some fair points about the paper - I agree that the introduction suffers from over elaboration and a somewhat elevated sense of what it might achieve (although the points about Pokemon being better recognised than 'real' organisms, and the Greta Thunberg effect as a counter-argument to...
  13. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    It's a pity you didn't give more than a glance to the study, because I think your characterisation of it is somewhat unfair. It is indeed 'not exactly science' - it applies, quite correctly, social science methods to explore the veracity of something that many have bemoaned in recent decades - a...
  14. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    But the study was undertaken in UK, where those with an interest in biomedical sciences will be much more likely to be studying for a biomedical science degree. Choosing to study biology implies some level of interest in living organisms, so it is deeply worrying that such a high proportion...
  15. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    I'm not sure about that - my family didn't have any great interest in the natural world, whereas I was apparently fascinated by spiders and garden wildlife from a really young age so it might be true in my own case. I think a bigger distinction is between people who are interested in aspects of...
  16. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    It's not off-topic at all - a stated aim of the AOSs action is to remove barriers to engagement with birds. If the removal of eponyms fulfilled that aim, then I might well be in favour of their actions.
  17. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Not just any students - biology students, a self-selected group who you might presume would have a basic interest in the natural world, even if they went on to be microbiologists. This unfortunately translates to a real dearth of taxonomic expertise available in the environmental sector.
  18. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    One thing that struck me about that article was the fact she then went on to give a number of examples where indigenous names like Ani had been incorporated into both English and scientific names, thereby diminishing what I think was the main thrust of her argument.
  19. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    The freedom to explore thing is indeed highly relevant in a British context at least, but the highly constrained school curricula I think play a part too - I used to work loosely in the environmental education field in the 1980s and 90s (from a site provision perspective, not as a teacher) and...
  20. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Couldn't agree more - it's just making people feel better, in the same way that having a bowl of granola and some fruit in the morning makes you feel like you've atoned for the damage you did to yourself with a few too many beers the night before. As an older white male of part-British...
  21. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    I have read the AOS page, and to be honest I'm staggered that they would even consider they had any authority to change a species like (for example) Fea's or Zino's petrels. That in itself is an example of the attitude I alluded to. And as I think I've said upthread, it's also a North...
  22. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    I think the 'Birds of Britain and Europe' thing goes back a long time, and is a residual effect of the condescending attitude of Brits (well, mostly English) to the rest of the world typified by the famous Victorian newspaper headline: 'Storm in Channel. Continent cut off'. The North America =...
  23. kb57

    Poll - Do you agree or disagree with the AOS's recent decision to abandon the use of eponymous bird names?

    Xantus's hummingbird is a perfect example of why a species-by-species renaming process would be a better approach to this issue. John_Xantus - according to Wikipedia guilty of plagiarism in his account of travels in Baja California (although he did live there) but no suggestion of scientific...
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