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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lockbreeze926" data-source="post: 1428887" data-attributes="member: 33009">Well, this is a regular topic and some of it is just down to the old tomato/tomayto type of distinction, and neither side of the Atlantic has a monopoly on accuracy.For instance, I think the North American "loon" is far more evocative and satisfactory than "diver", likewise calling Scoters black or white-winged, as Americans do, is far more logical than common or velvet; however, I do prefer the term "skua" to "jaeger", so there is something to gain by moving in both directions.However, there are some cases where the original north American names are simply, er, wrong, and were awarded by early settlers based on superficial resemblances to things they knew from Europe - most obviously, the American Robin. The Am Kestrel is one such case where the name did need to be changed - it is just not any sort of a hawk, either a true hawk such as accipiter or even a N American hawk of the buteo type. The same applied to the Northern Harrier, that was likewise never a hawk, and also to the vultures, which were never any kind of "buzzard", although this term is still in use.</blockquote>