Beginning in 2024, the American Ornithological Society will start to rename 70-80 bird species in the U.S. and Canada that were named after people. Only the English names will change, not the scientific names.
For example, McCown’s longspur, a small ground-feeding bird of the Great Plains, was renamed thick-billed longspur in 2020. It was originally named after John P. McCown, an amateur naturalist and a general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The name McCown is associated with slavery and racism. Even birds named after John James Audubon will have their names changed. Audubon owned slaves and opposed abolition.
Most of the people’s bird names probably do not have negative connotations. Harris’s sparrow and Harris’s hawk were named after Edward Harris by Audubon. Harris was a friend of Audubon who accompanied him on two of his expeditions to observe the birds and mammals of North America. He also helped to finance the publication of Audubon’s Birds of America. Harris was a farmer, horse breeder, amateur naturalist and ornithologist.
The same is true for Ross’s gull, a small gull of the high Arctic. It was named after James Ross, an officer in the British Royal Navy who participated in 6 Arctic expeditions and an Antarctic expedition.
The new names are meant to describe features of the birds, like red-headed woodpecker or white-breasted nuthatch. I wonder what the new name for Harris’s sparrow will be. Black-faced sparrow?
