Taxacom: new N America bird common names

[John Grehan]

Some may be aware that The American Ornithological Society plans to remove
all human names from the common names of birds within within its
jurisdiction, to create a more inclusive environment for people of diverse
backgrounds interested in bird-watching and ornithology. Rationale being
that some unsavouring individuals have their names appended to varous bird
species - see example below (from a web article):

"In 2018, college student Robert Driver
<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbou.org.uk%2Fblog-driver-english-bird-name%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C0693ffde6b0d413fd28008dbdbef10d3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638345592064320385%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=sGLWVkdraEm9TMSAExyRGQv%2FIc54aAjnoEPGQZ9DaQ4%3D&reserved=0> proposed renaming
McKown's longspur. The small bird that lives on shortgrass prairies in the
Central United States was named for John P. McKown,
<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fencyclopediaofarkansas.net%2Fentries%2Fjohn-porter-mccown-9015%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C0693ffde6b0d413fd28008dbdbef10d3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638345592064476667%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=q6%2BuJ59Ngi%2F%2B20qn4YMfL4dgHC3yJHrJCmFb6o8utoo%3D&reserved=0>who
first collected a specimen of the species in 1851. That was before he
fought in the Seminole Indian War in Florida in 1856 and 1857, before he
participated in an expedition against Mormons in Utah in 1858 and before he
became a general in the Confederate Army in 1861, according to the Central
Arkansas Library System. Driver's renaming proposal was rejected, to the dismay
of many birders <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fonlinelibrary.wiley.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1111%2Fibi.12984&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C0693ffde6b0d413fd28008dbdbef10d3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638345592064476667%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UnPPPeotZS9JS57GXkapdAKdsXwF%2BOmQ2HUZmqkI4Po%3D&reserved=0>
.

By August of 2020, the society was looking at things differently. It
accepted a rewritten proposal from Driver and a co-author and the longspur
was renamed the thick-billed longspur. Other birders and ornithologists
also were calling for the removal of names associated with past racism. The
society apologized for derogatory remarks by a member about Hawaiian bird
names distributed in 2011 documents and began some of the initial steps
that led to Wednesday's announcement.
<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanornithology.org%2Fenglish-bird-names%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C0693ffde6b0d413fd28008dbdbef10d3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638345592064476667%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=vn95QbuxbClInSx0z18c%2BFIaFBUGMfp0q%2FEgtExFBmo%3D&reserved=0>"
-- 
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhepialidsoftheworld.com.au%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C0693ffde6b0d413fd28008dbdbef10d3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638345592064476667%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UuLY%2FaYaNkAolZG8xEUNVbVDF0pkT9olGnAszCMtbTQ%3D&reserved=0 (use the 'visit archived web site'
link, then the 'Ghost Moth Research page' link.