Would be right to use the names that Indigenous peoples had been using for millennia. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) should be respected as equal to western scientific knowledge. If a species was already known to Indigenous people, it was not discovered by western scientists.
Addendum for clarity. Initiative is to change common names of birds that were named after people. AOS creating a panel to draft new names based off birds features. I think using pre-existing Indigenous names for birds should be considered.
I fully support this. Imagine going to a neighbor’s house and naming their pet when it already had a name, and then making the new name standard.
Links, for the curious:
About English Bird Names Project: https://americanornithology.org/about/english-bird-names-project/
Full statement from Oct 3: https://americanornithology.org/about/english-bird-names-project/american-ornithological-society-council-statement-on-english-bird-names/
Good.
… Wingspan, the board game, will need a rework.
Does this extend to binomial nomenclature, or just common names? Can birds have both traditional (indigenous) and Western common names?
Just common names so would have both if given Indigenous name. Also this initiative applying to species named after people like Bewick’s Wren or Steller’s Jay.
If they rename Steller’s Jay to Stellar Jay it’d make all the old corrections of people who got it wrong very confusing… but would be appropriate, they’re very pretty birds!
One of my favorite birds. I agree they are pretty. Also have wide range of vocalizations from screeching to delicate song.
This is a neat idea, and it makes a lot of sense. Do you know if there’s a list of birds that have already been renamed? I searched around, but I couldn’t find one. Perhaps I was using the wrong queries.
Not from this initiative, it is just in discussion/planning phase.
