Get this: hundreds of North American birds are about to get new names. No more birds named after people. This is a pretty big deal in the bird-watching world.
The American Ornithological Society (AOS) just announced a massive project. They're renaming all American birds that currently carry a person's name. Think about it: names like Audubon's shearwater or Scott's oriole. Turns out, many of these historical figures had some seriously problematic pasts.
John James Audubon, a famous bird artist, actually owned enslaved people. Winfield Scott, who got an oriole named after him, oversaw the forced removal of Indigenous peoples during the Trail of Tears. Not exactly the legacies we want to celebrate today, right?
We're a new kind of news feed.
Regular news is designed to drain you. We're a non-profit built to restore you. Every story we publish is scored for impact, progress, and hope.
Start Your News DetoxJudith Scarl, who heads up the AOS, put it simply: the old naming rules were "clouded by racism and misogyny." They just don't work anymore. The goal is to bring the focus back to the birds themselves, not the people who 'discovered' them.
A Viral Moment Sparked the Change
This isn't a sudden move. Bird enthusiasts have been pushing for this for years. Back in 2020, a movement called "Bird Names For Birds" started. Their point? Birds don't need human names.
Then came the incident that really lit a fire. Christian Cooper, a Black man, was birdwatching in Central Park. He asked a white woman to leash her dog, a park rule. She then called the police, falsely claiming he was threatening her. The video of this went viral, and it really highlighted the racism that exists even in communities like birdwatching. That moment wasn't a "wake-up call" for many, but it brought long-standing issues to the forefront. After that, groups like Black Birders Week formed. Other bird organizations even dropped "Audubon" from their names. All this pressure led the AOS to finally act.
Now, a new committee will give birds names that describe them. Think names about their habitat or how they look. It's about making birding more inclusive and welcoming for everyone. As AOS President Colleen Handel said, "there is power in a name." And these new names will celebrate the birds, pure and simple.
