Official Announcement

“The time has come for us to transform this process and redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs,” says CEO.

(November 1, 2023)—Today the American Ornithological Society (AOS) announced that in an effort to address past wrongs and engage far more people in the enjoyment, protection, and study of birds, it will change all English bird names currently named after people within its geographic jurisdiction. The AOS will also change the process by which English names are selected for bird species. The effort will begin in 2024 and will focus initially on 70–80 bird species that occur primarily within the U.S. and Canada.

Scientific names will not be changed, but the English (NA) names will be changed to better reflect the animals, not named after people.

Three owls would be subject to name changes.

  • Blakiston Fish Owl
  • Verreaux Eagle Owl
  • Wallace’s Scops Owl

This post already has potential to go wrong, but it can also begin some opportunities for education.

The movement of a collective of birders has been working on this for a few years, so there is lots of info about the project and its goals, and the history of the controversial figures is better documented than the owls currently named after them.

Would you guys want a writeup of all of this, or is this too political or negative for this group? I’ll respect your decision, but I’ll probably do an article to share somewhere. I just want to know if you all want this to be a SuperbOwl thing.

It’d be written from a neutral standpoint, just factual info.

  • The Octonaut@mander.xyz
    10·
    11 months ago

    I know people will say “It’s not zero sum!” but if there’s something that is more stupidly human than putting literally any effort into renaming animals while we literally wipe them out, I can’t think of it.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      61·
      11 months ago

      Normally I’d agree, but this is actually one of the main things this organization is around to do. They are essentially the Bird Naming Society.

      Since 1886, the AOS and its predecessor, the American Ornithologists’ Union, have maintained a list of official English-language names for birds in North America (and more recently, South America). These names are widely used by schools and universities, government agencies, conservation organizations, the news media, artists and writers, birders and photographers, and many other members of the English-speaking public worldwide. These English names are often updated as scientists discover new information about the ecology and evolution of these birds.

      There are also parts of the AOS dedicated to conservation and funding conservation science.

      I do agree the actual living animals should take priority, and I’m sure the majority of AOS and the renaming project member groups agree with that too.