The American Ornithological Society (AOS) has announced that, henceforth, it will rename all birds in the Americas currently bearing the names of people. The purpose, it claims, is to eliminate names “deemed offensive and exclusionary.” Say goodbye to Anna’s hummingbird and Townsend’s warbler. A new taxonomy’s in town.
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The impetus for this wholesale renaming apparently arose, in significant part, from a 2020 incident in Central Park where an ill-mannered white female dog-walker confronted a black male birder who asked her to leash her dog. (It was an on-leash only area of the park.) She called 911, alleging (falsely) that he assaulted her. This being the 21st century, the entire encounter was recorded and received over 40 million views on Twitter (now X). It was an ugly business, and, rightly or wrongly, the woman lost her job over it. But the ironic cherry on top of this civil rights sundae? Both parties had the same last name (Cooper).
This is just the latest chapter in our new culture of cancellation. John James Audubon (1785–1851) was a pioneering ornithologist and consummate self-taught artist who undertook to make a complete pictorial record of all bird species in North America. Early copies of the color-plate book he produced fetch up to $9.65 million at auction. He was born in present-day Haiti, the natural son of a plantation owner and his mistress, and had an indeterminate number of mixed-race siblings. He returned with his father to France, was legitimized, and emigrated to the United States at 18. He had great respect for the Shawnee and Osage Native Americans and frequently traveled with them. Sounds like a stand-up guy, but here’s his cancellable flaw: His family, like many of the era, once owned slaves, and he was dismissive of the abolitionists.
The National Audubon Society, named in his honor, was established in 1905 to promote the conservation of birds and their habitat, then under serious threat from … millinery. In the late 19th century, women (yes, them) were mad about feathered hats, so much so that entire species were being hunted to the point of extinction. New York society women, the influencers of their day, changed fashion to save birds.
Slavery was abolished, and women today rarely wear feathered hats. While some local chapters are abandoning Audubon’s name, the National Audubon Society declared in March that it would retain its name despite the aspersions cast upon its patron and some negative press.
So, as Juliet said to Romeo, what’s in a name?
The blue-footed booby is probably safe from the renaming police, unless it was discovered by an unsavory character with the surname “Blue.” Ditto the great tit, common loon, Satanic goatsucker, fluffy-backed tit-babbler, typical swift (not to be confused with Taylor), American bushtit, spangled drongo, horned screamer, little bustard, tiny sky-tyrant, red-rumped bush-tyrant smew, hoary puffleg, perplexing scrubwren, monotonous lark, and rough-faced shag. I dare you to try these out on a room full of fifth graders.
The AOS commits to actively involving the public in the process of selecting new English bird names. So here are some suggestions:
Maybe the AOS can take a page from the late, great Prince, or from Elon Musk, and choose new names that are utterly unpronounceable. That’s sure to broaden participation in birding. Or consult the birds themselves.
But I suppose it doesn’t really matter in the long run. That which we call a yellow-bellied sap-sucker by any other name would still tweet.
Betsy Dorminey is an attorney in Georgia, an entrepreneur in Vermont, and a full-time fashionista everywhere. Her columns have appeared in The American Spectator, Western Journal, Townhall, Vermont Digger, and the Hill.
