Maffong
Well-known member
December 4th
Often I hear the argument that eponyms aren't the only bad bird names, as if that would be an argument to keep the status quo. Personally, I would be open to change for particularly misleading or boring names. I know many won't agree, as stability is also an important issue, but splits and lumps have always forced us to change some names, so it's not like change is unprecedented.
I particularly dislike bland monikers like Common, Lesser, Western or features that are mostly invisible in the field such as Short-billed or Short-toed. Somehow these names feel inferior and don't do the birds justice. I invite you to come up with cooler names for birds that have a strong discrepancy between awesomeness of bird and boringness of name.
Obviously, names such as Common Swift or Northern Cardinal are mich more engrained into the collective memory than some range-restricted, rare and hard to identify species, meaning than a name change would be harder to justify. But this is a place to think outside the box and not one to start ornitho-political campaigns...
Now to todays birds.
Ross’s Gull (Rhodostethia rosea)
Rear-Adm. Sir James Clark Ross (1800-1862), Royal Navy, polar explorer, collector (not the same Ross as for the Goose).
Alternative names: Rosy Gull, Ring-necked Gull, Collared Gull, Wedge-tailed Gull, Pin-tailed Gull, Arctic Gull
While Rosy Gull seems like the least disruptive choice for this handsome, small gull of the high arctic, quite a few more names seem possible.
Sabine’s Gull (Xema sabini)
Gen. Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883), British Army, astronomer, physicist, Arctic explorer 1818-1820, President of the Royal Society 1861-1871. First discovered by him at Melville Bay, Greenland in 1818.
Alternative names: Swallow Gull, Fork-tailed Gull, Handsome Gull, Pelagic Gull
The first two are direct translations from various languages, but I like Handsome Gull the most, because look at that spectacular bird!
Saunders’s Tern (Sternula saundersi)
Howard Saunders (1835-1907), British banker, traveller, ornithologist (authority on the Laridae).
Alternative names: Oriental Little Tern, Arabian Tern, Black-fingered Tern, Trapeze-fronted Tern, Coral Tern
None of the names sticks out as perfect to me, but despite being the most complicated of names I kind of like Trapeze-fronted Tern, for this Little Tern look-alike from the western Indian Ocean.
Often I hear the argument that eponyms aren't the only bad bird names, as if that would be an argument to keep the status quo. Personally, I would be open to change for particularly misleading or boring names. I know many won't agree, as stability is also an important issue, but splits and lumps have always forced us to change some names, so it's not like change is unprecedented.
I particularly dislike bland monikers like Common, Lesser, Western or features that are mostly invisible in the field such as Short-billed or Short-toed. Somehow these names feel inferior and don't do the birds justice. I invite you to come up with cooler names for birds that have a strong discrepancy between awesomeness of bird and boringness of name.
Obviously, names such as Common Swift or Northern Cardinal are mich more engrained into the collective memory than some range-restricted, rare and hard to identify species, meaning than a name change would be harder to justify. But this is a place to think outside the box and not one to start ornitho-political campaigns...
Now to todays birds.
Ross’s Gull (Rhodostethia rosea)
Rear-Adm. Sir James Clark Ross (1800-1862), Royal Navy, polar explorer, collector (not the same Ross as for the Goose).
Alternative names: Rosy Gull, Ring-necked Gull, Collared Gull, Wedge-tailed Gull, Pin-tailed Gull, Arctic Gull
While Rosy Gull seems like the least disruptive choice for this handsome, small gull of the high arctic, quite a few more names seem possible.
Sabine’s Gull (Xema sabini)
Gen. Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883), British Army, astronomer, physicist, Arctic explorer 1818-1820, President of the Royal Society 1861-1871. First discovered by him at Melville Bay, Greenland in 1818.
Alternative names: Swallow Gull, Fork-tailed Gull, Handsome Gull, Pelagic Gull
The first two are direct translations from various languages, but I like Handsome Gull the most, because look at that spectacular bird!
Saunders’s Tern (Sternula saundersi)
Howard Saunders (1835-1907), British banker, traveller, ornithologist (authority on the Laridae).
Alternative names: Oriental Little Tern, Arabian Tern, Black-fingered Tern, Trapeze-fronted Tern, Coral Tern
None of the names sticks out as perfect to me, but despite being the most complicated of names I kind of like Trapeze-fronted Tern, for this Little Tern look-alike from the western Indian Ocean.
), name changing is, and has been, going on continuously due to splits, advances and updates in taxonomy, uniformisation amongst different taxonomies, etc. In that process, the on-purpose change of eponyms is only a small fraction of the total changes.
