For those of you who feel 'unsafe' and 'demeaned' by the obvious racist connotations that bird names clearly have will be able to breath a sigh of relief:
Wilson’s warbler, top, will be renamed, as will Audubon’s shearwater, named after John James Audubon. Picture montage: The Times
The organisation will rename 80 species next year due to their associations with controversial historical figures, including slave owners and white supremacists.
Birds that will be renamed include Audubon’s shearwater, a tropical seabird widespread in the Atlantic Ocean that honours John James Audubon, a 19th-century slave owner and perhaps America’s best-known ornithologist.
Colleen Handel, the society’s president, said: “There is power in a name and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today. Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.”
The society said that rather than go through each bird name individually to assess whether it had links to a controversial person, it would make blanket changes.
READ MORE: Jewish students too scared to wear school uniform | Yes leaders break silence with racism claim | Black-white racial divide fuelled by media bias
There had been a heated debate within the birdwatching community over the names given to species. An increasingly vocal faction demanded historical figures with links to slavery or colonialism be removed from names.
Drone pilot Devin Olsen caught an encounter with a curious bird of prey flying over a Surrey, B.C., golf course.
The society said it would aim for descriptive titles about a bird’s habitat or physical features instead. Judith Scarl, the society’s executive director and chief executive, said too many historical figures who had been honoured in bird names were racist.
She said: “As scientists, we work to eliminate bias in science. But there has been historic bias in how birds are named and who might have a bird named in their honour. Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny, don’t work for us today.”
According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 42.6 million people took trips to observe wild birds last year.
Complaints about a lack of diversity among US birdwatchers emerged following a high-profile incident in New York’s Central Park in 2020.
Christian Cooper, who is black, became involved in a row with a white woman over her dog being off the lead. Video of the argument was used as an example of the discrimination black people face while enjoying the outdoors. The woman involved later said the interaction was misrepresented.
This year progressive naturalists were defeated in attempts to rename the National Audubon Society, the bird protection organisation. The board of directors voted against it.
Eighty bird species will be renamed ‘to break links with ‘slavery and racism’
Wilson’s warbler, top, will be renamed, as will Audubon’s shearwater, named after John James Audubon. Picture montage: The Times- By KEIRAN SOUTHERN
- THE TIMES
- 12:13PM NOVEMBER 3, 2023
- 71 COMMENTS
The organisation will rename 80 species next year due to their associations with controversial historical figures, including slave owners and white supremacists.
Birds that will be renamed include Audubon’s shearwater, a tropical seabird widespread in the Atlantic Ocean that honours John James Audubon, a 19th-century slave owner and perhaps America’s best-known ornithologist.
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Townsend’s warbler and solitaire will also get new names. John Kirk Townsend, who died in 1851, stole skulls from indigenous graves and believed they were racially inferior.
Colleen Handel, the society’s president, said: “There is power in a name and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today. Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.”
The society said that rather than go through each bird name individually to assess whether it had links to a controversial person, it would make blanket changes.
READ MORE: Jewish students too scared to wear school uniform | Yes leaders break silence with racism claim | Black-white racial divide fuelled by media bias
There had been a heated debate within the birdwatching community over the names given to species. An increasingly vocal faction demanded historical figures with links to slavery or colonialism be removed from names.
Drone pilot Devin Olsen caught an encounter with a curious bird of prey flying over a Surrey, B.C., golf course.
The society said it would aim for descriptive titles about a bird’s habitat or physical features instead. Judith Scarl, the society’s executive director and chief executive, said too many historical figures who had been honoured in bird names were racist.
She said: “As scientists, we work to eliminate bias in science. But there has been historic bias in how birds are named and who might have a bird named in their honour. Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny, don’t work for us today.”
According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 42.6 million people took trips to observe wild birds last year.
Complaints about a lack of diversity among US birdwatchers emerged following a high-profile incident in New York’s Central Park in 2020.
Christian Cooper, who is black, became involved in a row with a white woman over her dog being off the lead. Video of the argument was used as an example of the discrimination black people face while enjoying the outdoors. The woman involved later said the interaction was misrepresented.
This year progressive naturalists were defeated in attempts to rename the National Audubon Society, the bird protection organisation. The board of directors voted against it.
names are names. thats just how it is. this situation has gotten out of hand. reparations? 
how many people as a whole, know about these"racist" names to begin with? i could have said black community. but its not just them.I had no clue either,nor even put forth any thought into the matter. who cares? theyre only birds!
