[Tweeters] LET'S NOT BREAK UP OVER THIS!

[Zora Monster via Tweeters]

I must say this is getting tiresome. The way everyone is piling onto each other is, unfortunately, rather a common thing these days.

The name changes will likely happen.  Anyone with books can simply take a pen and add the new name rather than spend the money to buy a new book once it is published with the new name, as the identification and behavioral knowledge contained within will not change. Most serious birders have handwritten notes in their books, so it wouldn’t be such a big deal and might just help the person to remember the new name.  I did exactly this when the mew gull became the short-billed gull, and it helped me to remember the name change, not to mention that I now have a book which has that name change documented. Electronic records will be updated. For those who have been birding for many years, those people may make changes to personal notes (notebooks, spreadsheets, etc.) in much the same way they may have made changes in the past. 

History is not being erased; with a bit of research people can still find out about those who advanced knowledge of birds and birding. As it stands, it still takes a bit of research to learn who Wilson, Swainson, Bewick, etc. are. Perhaps the name changes will cause someone (perhaps in this group) to write a history of birding.

But Please can we keep this civil? Can we make arguments for and against without calling each other out? I know that civility is passe in certain parts of our society, but must it be so here?

Zora Dermer
Seattle




> On Jun 27, 2024, at 12:23 PM, Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> 

> Carmelo,

> 

> I’m not sure why you and all the others who are so adamant about the value of the name-changing seem not to be considering the negative outcomes, which of course are the only reason for the pushback. I think few if any people are pushing back because they are uncaring, racist, old or white. We just see the downside of this action, not to mention that we can see much better ways to solve societal problems than by changing bird names. Perhaps you don’t adhere to the thought that with age comes wisdom. Experience and some insight certainly come with age.

> 

> Bird names have been changed a few at a time over the decades I’ve been doing this, and the changes were infrequent enough that people were able to catch up, and new books and apps didn’t have to be produced every year. When Pigeon and Sparrow and Marsh Hawk were changed to Merlin and kestrel and harrier to reflect their commonality to Old World populations, that was logical and generated only a little confusion and grumbling.

> 

> Are the revised books and apps and any other places bird names are cited going to say Black-cheeked (formerly Townsend’s) Warbler for a few years? If not, confusion certainly reigns, and if so, you haven’t got rid of the offensive name. I don’t understand how this is going to be accomplished without these outcomes.

> 

> And renaming birds such as waterthrushes and Red-bellied Woodpeckers sounds like such a slippery slope that I sincerely hope you are not serious. What if you and one out of ten of your friends all of a sudden received a new name that was to be used from that day on?

> 

> Dennis Paulson

> Seattle

> 

>> On Jun 27, 2024, at 5:32 AM, Carmelo Quetell via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>> wrote:

>> 

>> Greg,

>> 

>> What if the clear intentionality of this round of name changes, along with the engagement of members of the public from various backgrounds throughout this process, yields common English names that are actually better descriptors of the birds? What if this time around, we can do better than Northern/Louisiana Waterthrush or Red-Bellied Woodpecker? What if this time around the naming is more distinctive than Gray-cheeked/Swainson's Thrush? What if you trust the process?

>> 

>> -Carmelo 

>> 

>> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

>> From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu>> on behalf of Greg via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>>

>> Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2024 1:57 AM

>> To: Preston Mui <prestonmui at gmail.com <mailto:prestonmui at gmail.com>>

>> Cc: TWEETERS tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>>; Ed Newbold <ednewbold1 at yahoo.com <mailto:ednewbold1 at yahoo.com>>

>> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] LET'S NOT BREAK UP OVER THIS!

>>  

>> Hi Preston -

>> Many of the existing names of birds that describe some aspect of the bird are not much help either. As a beginning birder in 1980s Rhode Island, I could not distinguish the difference between Northern Waterthrush and Louisiana Waterthrush. I needed a seasoned birder to show me the way. Many species have descriptive names that are no help at all unless one reads and sees pictures, as in the case of Red-bellied Woodpecker. I believe it would be the same research no matter the name the species. 

>> 

>> While I appreciate what Teresa would “like,” it is just not realistic. Compare Gray-cheeked Thrush and Swainson’s Thrush (especially in the field). Is the descriptive name of the bird helpful as opposed to the eponymous? A tough one for a beginner. 

>> 

>> Anyway, I don’t believe the purpose of name changes has anything to do with helping out beginning birders. 

>> Louisiana Waterthrush reminds that a “helpful” descriptor name begs changing Nashville, Tennessee, Connecticut, Kentucky, even Canada Warbler. 

>> 

>> As yet, I have not seen the in-depth statement or reasoning from the “powers that be“ that explains their intent. My sincerest hope is that we stop this silliness, nip it in the bud (if we’re still at that stage?), and save the wonderful birding community of yet unforeseen consternation all around the world.

>> 

>> Generally, I stand with Dennis Paulson.

>> 

>> Greg Pluth

>> Sent from my iPhone

>> 

>>> On Jun 26, 2024, at 9:29 PM, Preston Mui via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>> wrote:

>>> 

>>> 

>>> Dennis, you seem to have simply missed the core of Teresa's point. The sentence immediately following:

>>> 

>>>> Mostly I’d just like the bird names to help teach us something interesting about the bird, or maybe something that would help us distinguish it from another bird.

>>> 

>>> I understand that not all eponymous names are the person studying the bird. Whether the name is an honorific for the namer or someone the namer values is besides the point. Unless I have missed that the letters "ANNA" are printed on its tail feathers, "Anna's Hummingbird" tells a beginner nothing about how to distinguish an Anna's from another hummingbird.

>>> 

>>> Preston Mui

>>> prestonmui at gmail.com <mailto:prestonmui at gmail.com>

>>> http://prestonmui.github.io/

>>> (425) 223-8450

>>> 

>>> 

>>> On Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 8:43 PM Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>> wrote:

>>>> Thanks for your thoughts, Ed, so important to consider. And thanks to you, Teresa, as of course you’re right about learning something about a species from its name. I have given common names to well over 800 dragonfly and damselfly species of the Americas, many of them coined with the help of colleagues. I have always tried to choose names that were descriptive, not always easy, as many species are extremely similar and differ obviously only in genitalic structure. No one has suggested a name such as “Branched-hamuled Meadowhawk." I had to use geography to differentiate very similar species with different ranges, just as we’ve done with meadowlarks and wood-pewees and waterthrushes.

>>>> 

>>>> However, some people have made major contributions to what we know about Odonata, and I felt obligated to recognize them in some of the common names, to bring forward a bit of the history of dragonfly study. All of these were given to species that already had one of these contributor's names in their scientific name, e.g., Williamson’s Emerald, Somatochlora williamsoni. Of a list of 847 species known from all of North America, including the West Indies, 163 of them (19%) were named after people (eponyms), and 70 of those species (8%) also have eponymic common names. Common-name eponyms were given only to those species that were already named after the person. I don’t recall the percent of North American (=Canada & US) birds that have eponymic common names, but that would be an interesting figure. Same with mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, insects, plants, etc.

>>>> 

>>>> I’m just presenting these figures to explain how the common names of these dragonflies came about, as these name were coined in the last decade, not a century or two ago. While thinking about common names, I purposefully chose to honor the “heroes” of North American odonatology, the people who went into the field, collected specimens, brought them back to museums, and described them. We would know little or nothing about the species if it weren’t for these people, and it’s exactly the same for bird names. Not all of these people did all these things; some of them wrote books about the fauna that introduced professionals and amateurs alike to that fauna. A much smaller number were people who were very close (a spouse or a teacher or mentor, for example) to the person who described the species, and the describer wanted to honor them, even though they weren’t contributors to odonatology. It’s the same with birds.

>>>> 

>>>> I’ve been active in collecting and preserving specimens and writing about them, and I’ve had five dragonfly species named after me. One of them has the common name “Paulson’s,” but I made sure that my name was used in no other common name. I have named six species of Odonata, including three eponyms. Those names honor the three people who discovered these species and knew enough to bring them to the attention of the world. I repeat—we would know nothing about those dragonflies if it weren’t for such people all through history. Yes, the people who lived where the dragonflies were "discovered" may have known about them, but I have never found an Indigenous person who knew them as anything but “dragonfly.” As many as 187 species of Odonata are known from a single locality in Peru, and no one but a caring and careful dragonfly specialist of today would know that. The individual species have to be made known through publication, and I believe it is exactly the same for birds.

>>>> 

>>>> This is in part background to (hopefully) permanently eliminate a bad misconception that has been making its way through this discussion. Teresa wrote “ I don’t get much from a bird (or any other species) named after the person who first described it for western science”  And from some of the messages, it’s apparent that that is a common belief. However, each of the eponymous scientific names was NOT the name of the person who described the species, although a very few common names do refer to such a person (usually when the describer was also the discoverer). No, these were the names of the person being honored by the describer.

>>>> 

>>>> So these eponyms have nothing to do with self-aggrandizement (oh, boy, I can discover a species and name it after myself) and everything to do with respect and admiration and even love. Please bear this in mind, anyone who has thoughts about this issue. And please bear in mind that we would know very little about birds or any other organisms if specimens had not been collected and deposited in natural history museums. Please don’t use this talk about “killing birds” as your rationale for cancelling the pioneer ornithologists. You are cancelling most of the people who have brought us our knowledge of the natural world, including me and so many of my friends and colleagues.

>>>> 

>>>> Dennis Paulson

>>>> Seattle

>>>> 

>>>>> On Jun 26, 2024, at 10:15 AM, Teresa Michelsen via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>> wrote:

>>>>> 

>>>>> I too enjoy the debate most of the time, except when it gets too personal.

>>>>> 

>>>>> There is something I wanted to add from the perspective of a newer birder (I’m not, but not as experienced as many of those in the debate, or who may be deciding in the end). This concept is one that no-one has mentioned, but to me it’s important as, I guess, more of a naturist.

>>>>> 

>>>>> I really enjoy bird names that tell me something about the bird, like its range, or preferred habitat, or coloration, or habits. I don’t get much from a bird (or any other species) named after the person who first described it for western science, although I do know what an honor that is for the person. Mostly I’d just like the bird names to help teach us something interesting about the bird, or maybe something that would help us distinguish it from another bird. As one example, the cisticolas of Africa, which were a particularly difficult challenge for us North Americans – with names like rattling, piping, whistling, chattering, trilling, bubbling, churring, tinkling, rock-loving, tiny, etc. There are so many of these guys and they all look alike, you can almost imagine they were desperate to find some way to differentiate among them!!

>>>>>  

>>>>> I hope that adds to the conversation in a positive way. I too love this list. I feel it’s impossible to avoid the topic but also very possible for us to consider each others’ opinions without maligning the authors.

>>>>>  

>>>>> Teresa Michelsen

>>>>> Hoodsport, WA

>>>>>  

>>>>> From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Ed Newbold via Tweeters

>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2024 8:04 PM

>>>>> To: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>>

>>>>> Subject: [Tweeters] LET'S NOT BREAK UP OVER THIS!

>>>>> 

>>>>> Hi all,

>>>>> 

>>>>> Can we enjoy the wonderful intellectuality and energy of this?  Can we see brilliance in the opinions we disagree with, and erudition and a magnificent opus of work from people on both sides of this debate?

>>>>> 

>>>>> That last includes you, Hal, who I seem to be going against here, and know my hat is off to you for all you have done. But I don’t see putting a lid on all expression and passion by fiat as being good in this or very many situations.

>>>>> 

>>>>> I also have a dog in this fight. I think there are unspoken assumptions that both sides may tacitly accept as true but which are actually in play. Economists, at least those of the Austrian persuasion, see their discipline as the study of things that aren’t apparent to the eye. That new Sports Stadium will certainly be good for the economy, right? But is that statement true?  Does the time spent on name changes really mean there will be less time spent watching or saving Birds? Will the public spend more or less time actually getting to know Steller if his name is not on the Western Blue Jay?  (I'm against that name change). Would a public controversy hurt the image of birders and consequently, birds? We don’t know these things, but we must not assume the “common-sense” position that assumes there will be less time and that the controversy would be damaging, or that Steller will be forgotten, that those things are true or even knowable. I personally believe a robust controversy in birding that spills out into the public domain could be just what the Doctor ordered to break the widespread perception that it would be embarrassing to call oneself a birder and that birding is not an acceptable pastime the way something like watching Football is. (I encounter this perception at my store all the time.)

>>>>>  

>>>>> I may have tipped my hand a little bit but I am not a partisan. I love all of you folks! Thanks to everyone who chimed in!  We don’t need to break up over this!

>>>>> Thanks all,

>>>>> 

>>>>> Ed Newbold

>>>>> 

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