Will the Swainson’s Thrush and other birds named after people receive a new name? (photo by Paul Konrad)

The American Ornithologists Society (AOS) Council’s declaration to unilaterally change all American bird names for birds that were named after people, garnered an initial burst of mainstream publicity, but subsequently met with considerable opposition, both within the United States and Canada, as well as internationally. In response, an increasing number of birders and ornithologists are now petitioning the AOS to reconsider and continue their previous method of evaluating eponymous names on a case-by-case, name-by-name basis.

One response has been the circulation of a “Petition to AOS Leadership on the Recent Decision to Change all Eponymous Bird Names.” To date, more than 3,000 people have signed on to the petition, including birders from every state in the United States along with birders from 48 other counties. At this early point in the process, it’s apparent that the concern among many birders is widespread and the subject has attracted world-wide interest. The text of the “Petition to AOS Leadership on the Recent Decision to Change all Eponymous Bird Names” is provided below for your review.

Petition to be presented to the AOS Leadership:

In response to a petition from “Bird Names for Birds” signed by approximately 2,500 people, the AOS leadership announced the major decision to change all eponymous names in “an effort to address past wrongs and engage far more people in the enjoyment, protection, and study of birds.” We the undersigned strongly support diversity and inclusion in the birding community but disagree with this decision for the following reasons:

The destabilization of 150 English bird names is unprecedented. We believe that such a momentous decision that affects the English names used by [millions] of people requires listening to a diversity of voices rather than a few. One of the guiding principles of the AOS is to maintain a list [formal list of bird names] that “fosters stability for the sake of effective communication,” yet it has never polled membership or the public regarding a decision that will impact the entire world-wide birding community.

This one-sided decision is discriminatory against those that would rather see no change or are willing to compromise. Furthermore, no other ornithological or birding organizations were consulted. The International Ornithological Union, which monitors taxonomic changes and maintains a global list of standard bird names, have already indicated they will not follow suit and remove all eponyms. The attempt by AOS leadership to appear more diverse and inclusive has created an unprecedented and unnecessary division within the birding community unseen in our lifetimes. This decree has brought culture wars to ornithology and birding.

We challenge the AOS to produce evidence that bird names are having a negative impact on the stated goals of the organization or birding in general. There is much to remedy in a science that has historically been dominated by white males, but changing bird names, many of which were described and named in a different era, and trying to hide ornithological history will not remedy this history. In all reality this decision will have little to no impact in removing obstacles to minorities in ornithology and birding.

Rather than a total purge of eponyms, we suggest that the previous case-by-case method be resumed to remove offensive names rather than dishonoring the many people who founded ornithology in the Americas, many of whom are inadvertently disgraced by guilt by association.

This methodology was also endorsed by the entire North American Checklist Committee (NACC) and all but one member of the South American Checklist Committee (SACC) although the committees’ recommendations were ignored by the AOS.

We predict that assessing reaction from a broader portion of the user base will favor this approach. Differing opinions on this matter deserve to have a voice. (End of Petition Text)

Following the above text of the petition are links to comments from prominent ornithologists and birders, which you can refer to at Petition · Petition to AOS Leadership on the Recent Decision to Change all Eponymous Bird Names · Change.org

To refer to the initial statement released by the AOS, you can refer to the November xxxx issue of The Birding Wire at A Monumental Change in Bird Names! | Birding Wire

You can also read the AOS statement, which was released November 1, 2023 at English Bird Names Project - American Ornithological Society (americanornithology.org)