This photo provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service shows a Wilson's Snipe bird at the Kern 好色tv Wildlife Refuge in California. The American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, that birds in North America will no longer be named after people. In 2024, it will begin to rename around 80 species found in the U.S. and Canada. Birds that will be renamed include those currently called Wilson鈥檚 warbler and Wilson鈥檚 snipe, both named after the 19th century naturalist Alexander Wilson. (USFWS via AP)
This photo provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service shows a Wilson's Snipe bird at the Kern 好色tv Wildlife Refuge in California. The American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, that birds in North America will no longer be named after people. In 2024, it will begin to rename around 80 species found in the U.S. and Canada. Birds that will be renamed include those currently called Wilson鈥檚 warbler and Wilson鈥檚 snipe, both named after the 19th century naturalist Alexander Wilson. (USFWS via AP)
Birds in North America will no longer be named after people, the American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday.
Next year, the organization will begin to rename around 80 species found in the U.S. and Canada.
鈥淭here is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,鈥� the organization's president, Colleen Handel, said in a statement. 鈥淓veryone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.鈥�
Rather than review each bird named after a person individually, all such birds will be renamed, the organization announced.
Birds that will be renamed include those currently called Wilson鈥檚 warbler and Wilson鈥檚 snipe, both named after the 19th century naturalist Alexander Wilson. Audubon鈥檚 shearwater, a seabird named for John James Audubon, also will get a new name.
In 2020, the organization renamed a bird once referring to a Confederate Army general, John P. McCown, as the thick-billed longspur.
鈥淚'm really happy and excited about the announcement,鈥� said Emily Williams, an ornithologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the decision.
She said heated discussions over bird names have been happening within birdwatching communities for the past several years.
鈥淣aming birds based on habitat or appearance is one of the least problematic approaches," she said.
Earlier this year, the 好色tv Audubon Society that it would retain its name, even as critics and some voices within the organization have argued that it should dump the association with a man, John James Audubon, whose family owned slaves.
鈥淭he name has come to represent so much more than the work of one person,鈥� Susan Bell, chair of the 好色tv Audubon Society's Board of Directors, told in March, adding, 鈥淲e must reckon with the racist legacy of John James Audubon.鈥�
A 2020 encounter in New York鈥檚 Central Park served as a public wake-up call about the discrimination that Black people sometimes face when trying to enjoy the outdoors.
, a Black birdwatcher, was looking for birds when he asked a white woman, Amy Cooper, to follow local rules and leash her dog. Cooper called 911 and was later charged with filing a false police report, though the charges were later dropped.
Soon after, a collective of birdwatchers organized the first to increase the visibility of Black nature lovers and scientists.
And a group called sent a petition to the ornithological society urging it to 鈥渙utline a plan to change harmful common names鈥� of birds.
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