Back in November of 2023 the American Ornithological Society (AOS) determined that many of the birds in North America were named after people who had a controversial history, or who had nothing to do with the bird itself. 

For example, John James Audobon, world-renown birder and illustrator, was pro-slavery and openly opposed abolitionists who championed the freeing of slaves. The Audobon's Shearwater, a little, dark brown seabird with a white underbelly, carries Audobon's namesake, and will soon have a new name.

In the southwest United States and Mexico, the Scott's Oriole was named after U.S. Civil War General Winfield Scott who in 1838 oversaw the forced relocation of indigenous peoples. 

The Baltimore Oriole was named after 17th century Lord Baltimore's coat-of-arms depicting the notable orange and black colors.  But Lord Baltimore had nothing to do with the bird itself.

The renaming of 70-80 birds in North America was one of the topics of discussion recently at the Westman Naturalists' seminar last week held at Brandon University.  Ontario's Trent University Professor, Dr. Erica Nol, shared with the group on how several bird species have English names which are considered offensive and/or exclusionary. She explained her involvement in the process of renaming these noted birds with common names in the English language, but not their scientific names nor their names in other languages.

As a member of the AOS committee Dr. Nol gave deeper insight to the initiative via zoom with local members of the Westman Naturalists.

Local group president, Alex Koiter, says one of the big things of this initiative is to make an effort to diversify birding in general making it more welcoming to everybody, and to incorporate characteristics of the bird into the new name, such as was done when naming the Blue Jay or the Red Winged Blackbird.

"But I think the AOS committee didn't really want to be the 'morality police' and tasked with trying to identify which were the individuals that were okay to have the birds named after them, and which ones aren't," explains Koiter.  "It really depends on who you are and with what lens you view them in.  So, they made the decision to rename all birds that are named after people, regardless of their history; to take that out of the picture."

"So, some of the really neat opportunities about this renaming is that some of these birds will be renamed with more descriptive names, names that will be better reflect what these birds look like or what these birds do in their behavior, which better lends itself to this idea of making birding more welcoming," he adds.

Please listen to Alex Koiter below as he shares more on this subject!