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Renaming all North American Birds (1 Viewer)

How is the progress of renaming all Parulidae from Warblers to else, since they are not Warblers Sylvidae?

Also, not solved for many years is renaming Acrocephalidae, Phylloscopidae, Cettidae and Locustellidae from warblers to something else, because they are not related to Sylvidae. Locustella could be renamed Grassbirds, which actually is quite suitable.
 
As there is no good reason to change something just for the sake of change, the same can be said about not changing anything for the sake of keeping things as is, without even contemplating changes or improvements. Some people seem to counter-push their agenda, against an agenda, and complain that the ones started the name changing have an agenda. Talk about hypocrisy.

There are many good reasons to change bird names. For example, a Grey heron over here is literally a Blue heron. In the early days it was a Grey heron as well, so I would vote for a change immediately.
Some names are just confusing (Black-tipped cotinga for example).

Other names are spot on and don't need change (most of them).
 
This is definitely an influencing factor, without any doubt at all, let the science do the naming, not politics and not public opinion.

Without wishing to be offensive, what these latecomers to birding are doing, is akin to a Brit, arriving in America and changing all the rules to Ice Hockey. Birding has already become politicised recently, I hope it's a trend that dies, very quickly.

The old argument was that the latin binomial is there to get the science right, the 'english' or 'common' name doesn't have to be so scientifically rigorous, so public opinion or use can effect change. But don't change things for the sake of it, or spurious reasoning, agreed!
 
Is this just people with nothing better to do in Lock-down? Or as a result of the Black-lives-matter campaign - which I wholeheartedly support. But this is just change for changes sake. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The only one I ever liked from the 'change' over here is Rosy Starling.
Yes, not all the “new” names were bad, and Rosy Starling is excellent, concise and descriptive. I’ve also always rather liked Hedge Accentor, even though it generally hasn’t replaced Dunnock, which is at least briefer, though Accentor sounds more exotic.

With you on BLM. Coming out of the pharmacy the other day I noticed a black guy with placards on the dashboard of his car. If I’d seen them earlier and thought of it quicker, I might have taken the knee as a sign of solidarity (though I might have needed help getting up afterwards;)).
 
Okay, can we at least get Agressive Hawk? That's just so cool!

It would counterbalance the existence of Peaceful dove (Geopelia placida).

Using the same analogy, we have a Sad flycatcher (Myiarchus barbirostris) and a Happy wren (Pheugopedius felix), and a bit far-stretched, a Vivid Niltava (Niltava vivida) and a Dead sea sparrow (Passer moabiticus) ;)

We also have Bornean shade-dwellers and Plains-wanderers.
 
Keep in mind that some of these Americanisms are a necessity here. When you are birding in the UK, and someone says they saw a Wren, you know exactly what they are talking about. If I said that to a local birder...well, do you mean Sedge, Marsh, House, Carolina, or Winter?
Oh, certainly, Wren on its own is only appropriate in Europe.

However, when Trump causes the final collapse of the USA and you have to rejoin the Empire, one of the first measures we will enforce (after driving on the left), is the re-naming of all American sparrows to buntings ;)
 
Except Pallas's Gull. Which was and always should have remained an appropriate four-word name: Great Black-headed Gull.

(It's tempting to use every single one of the emojis available on my right to accompany the above statement of fact, but I shall resist that temptation and leave each to their own...)

As ever, there's always an exception!
 
We had a big attempted re-naming of English bird names here in the UK a few years ago, including trying to impose some Americanisms (“Winter Wren” for our sole Wren species, anyone). Hardly any are used. In many cases “Common”, “Northern”, “European” or “Eurasian” was simply tacked onto the common name - I still can’t remember which of those was applied to our (the real) Robin, but I always preferred Not BB’s “Northern Orange-breasted Robin-chat”.

Anyway, no reason why you Yanks shouldn’t suffer in your turn ;)

Lapland Bunting will always be a Lapland Bunting in my eyes.
 
It would counterbalance the existence of Peaceful dove (Geopelia placida).

Using the same analogy, we have a Sad flycatcher (Myiarchus barbirostris) and a Happy wren (Pheugopedius felix), and a bit far-stretched, a Vivid Niltava (Niltava vivida) and a Dead sea sparrow (Passer moabiticus) ;)

We also have Bornean shade-dwellers and Plains-wanderers.

I have argued for a long time against naming things after things named after something - the classic example being the "Piece Race Bridge" in Prague, named after a race that honored peace (let's put aside for a moment the quality of such honor by a 80's east bloc event), which is redundant and the "Peace Bridge" would be more logical.

Now the Dead Sea does not actually commemorate death, as it is more of a description of the properties of the sea, so I am not sure, if I can raise the same objection against Dead Sea Sparrow, but Dead Sparrow sounds too funny as a species name not to at least try!

EDIT:

All hawks are aggressive, shouldn't it be renamed "the slightly-more-aggressive-than-usual hawk' Jan?:king:

Seeing this brilliant argument, I am also willing to settle for Slighty-more-dead-than-usual Sparrow.
 
LOL if you think this will end with common names. Think they won't go after "problematic" binomials next and bring down the whole system of zoological nomenclature?
 
I have argued for a long time against naming things after things named after something - the classic example being the "Piece Race Bridge" in Prague, named after a race that honored peace (let's put aside for a moment the quality of such honor by a 80's east bloc event), which is redundant and the "Peace Bridge" would be more logical.

Now the Dead Sea does not actually commemorate death, as it is more of a description of the properties of the sea, so I am not sure, if I can raise the same objection against Dead Sea Sparrow, but Dead Sparrow sounds too funny as a species name not to at least try!

EDIT:



Seeing this brilliant argument, I am also willing to settle for Slighty-more-dead-than-usual Sparrow.

Should be reserved for the Slighty-more-dead-than-usual Seaside Sparrow (aka Dusky Seaside Sparrow in US, now extinct), although maybe the seaside bit should still go as that sounds like too much fun (fairground rides, candyfloss and the like) and inapropriate frivolity in the circumstances.

Always liked the name Powerful Owl, and isn't there another buzzard or eagle in the same vein?
 
Oh, certainly, Wren on its own is only appropriate in Europe.

However, when Trump causes the final collapse of the USA and you have to rejoin the Empire, one of the first measures we will enforce (after driving on the left), is the re-naming of all American sparrows to buntings ;)

Why would China make us rename our sparrows?

P.S. our sparrows are not buntings either...the family was split a few years ago.
 
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