On Nov 7, 2023, at 5:38 PM, ValerieFuller <ungulate@...> wrote:

?I agree with you, Daniel.

I think it's a flawed idea at best.? We would certainly have to ban anything Audubon, wouldn't we?? After all, he shot all of his specimens, didn't he?? How about Lewis & Clarke?? Were they bad guys too?? And who are these demi-Gods who make the decisions for all of us as to what is good or bad?? I understand Anna's Hummingbird is on the chopping block.? I'll bet not one in a thousand birders know nor care who Anna was.? Has the AOU nothing better to do for our failing planet?

Valerie Fuller

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On 11/07/23 12:44 PM, "Daniel Bastaja" <danielbastaja@...> wrote:

Thanks for the link Pamela.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with naming birds after people as long as those people weren’t slaveholders, colonialists, militarists or exploiters. Thomas Say was a quaker. Georg Wilhelm Steller was an explorer and naturalist who was very sympathetic to the indigenous populations of Kamchatka (earning the hostility of the Imperial Russian government for helping these people). So we are going to replace these cool names with boring anodyne names to appease social justice warriors?

Then there is the question of the scientific names. McCown’s Longspur may now be Thick-billed Longspur, but I believe the specific epithet is still mccownii. So, in a way, it is STILL named after McCown. What about the Say’s Phoebe? Both the generic and specific epithet are named after Thomas Say. Are they going to change that?

The other thing that occured to me is that I think the world authority on bird taxonomy is the International Ornithologists Union and the International Ornithological Congress. Are they going to accept and follow the AOU’s lead on this? If they do, wouldn’t it be like ceding their authority to the Americans? Would it create a precedent? Every time the AOU decides to change something, the IOU and IOC have to go along with it? Just a thought.?

Anyway, this is just my opinion. I know it may not be popular and I admit I don’t know the whole story or how these things actually work.

Daniel Bastaja
danielbastaja@...

> On Nov 7, 2023, at 19:56, Pamela Zevit via groups.io <pamela.zevit@...> wrote:
>
> American Ornithological Society Will Change the English Names of Bird Species Named After People. “There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today. We need a much more inclusive and engaging scientific process that focuses attention on the unique features and beauty of the birds themselves,” said AOS President Colleen Handel, Ph.D., a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska. “Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely—and birds need our help now more than ever.”
>
> Pamela Zevit RPBio | Biodiversity Conservation Planner
> <image001.png> T 604.590.7254
> Check out how we are conserving biodiversity in Surrey
> As a second generation settler, I am a privileged guest working on the shared traditional lands (tém:éxw) of the s?myám? (Semiahmoo), sq??c?iy?a?? (Katzie), K?ik?????m (Kwikwetlem), q??ɑ:n????n? (Kwantlen), Qiqéyt (Qayqayt), Sc??waθ?n (Tsawwassen) and x?m?θk??y??m (Musqueam).
>? <image002.png>

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Cheers,
Val Fuller,
Ladner, B. C.