New English Names for Birds

BirdNote®
New English Names for Birds
Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

If you’re new to birding, you might be baffled by names like Couch’s Kingbird, Wilson’s Warbler, and Townsend’s Solitaire.

    [Wilson’s Warbler song]

These birds were named in honor of scientists and their friends long ago. But the result is a long list of birds named after white men, many of whom took part in colonizing the Americas or enslaved people. The American Ornithological Society or AOS, which governs official bird names in English, is working to rename all birds named after people in North America.

    [Thick-billed Longspur song]

The bird once called McCown’s Longspur, for example, was originally named after a man who first collected the bird and later became a general in the Confederate army. In 2020, the AOS renamed that songbird the Thick-billed Longspur, which instead highlights the big beak that distinguishes the species from other longspurs.

    [Thick-billed Longspur song]

In late 2023, after years of people campaigning for new bird names, the AOS said they’ll rename 70 to 80 more species named after people, replacing them with names that call attention to distinctive traits of the birds.

The goal is to make birding more inclusive and welcoming to everyone, and to make it easier for people to start getting to know their birds. After all, every friendship begins with learning a name.

    [Wilson’s Warbler song]

For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.

###

Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Wilson’s Warbler ML206468 Bob McGuire, and Thick-billed Longspur ML191116 recorded by Wil Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote July 2024
Narrator: Ariana Remmel

ID# names-07-2024-07-01        names-07