Exciting News - New Nomenclature!

I am happy to announce that the annual spring meeting of the AOU (American Ornithologist Union) naming committee has recently made some changes to bird names.  Likewise with the BSA (Botanical Society of America). 

Following are the new names and explanations for each one.

I’ll start with the changes for birds.   

First: the Hairy Woodpecker.  It’s a basic fact that birds have feathers, not hair, so ornithologists have been questioning this name for some time.  Researchers studied the background behind the name. They were surprised to discover that it was actually supposed to be called Harry’s Woodpecker.  (It shouldn't have been surprising, since several other woodpeckers are named for people, such as Williamson’s Sapsucker and Nuttall’s Woodpecker.)  Somehow, a clerical error had been made which changed Harry’s into Hairy.  They have now corrected this mis-spelling.  No one is quite sure who ‘Harry’ was, but they were happy not to have to change the four letter bird code (FLBC) for this bird (HAWO).  (For an interesting article about four letter bird codes and a listing of them, click here.)

A pair of Harry's Woodpeckers

Bird Number 2:  Due to a number of complaints about the use of ‘Common’ in many bird names, those are in the process of being changed.  The word ‘common’ has several meanings and one of those meanings actually does usually apply to the bird names that contain it.  That definition is: ‘found in relatively large numbers’.  Another definition of common which was causing some nature-lovers to dislike it is this: ordinary.  It was felt that it was demeaning to call these birds 'ordinary' --  especially when there are so many other great words that could describe them.  Case in point:  Common Yellowthroat.

The new name for this bird is much more fitting.  Because they are so small and... well, cute-- they will now be called Cute Yellowthroats.  Besides being descriptive, this name changes the FLBC for this bird, which was previously COYE; by only one letter, to CUYE. 

The third bird name change came about because of the internet discussion that went viral recently regarding ‘what color is the dress’?  This discussion on color got birders all talking about ‘what color is the Purple Finch?’

There really wasn’t much to discuss as all were in agreement that it’s NOT purple.  What to call it then?  Many written descriptions say it is ‘raspberry-colored’.  Roger Tory Peterson, possibly the most famous birder of all-time, wrote that it looks like a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.”

The AOU committee members decided that ‘Raspberry Finch’ was too much of a mouthful.  Then someone suggested ‘Peterson’s Finch’ (and even though that is also quite a mouthful, they liked it because it also only changed the FLBC by one letter).  So now, we will be calling it the Peterson’s Finch and for bird listers using the code, just jot down PEFI instead of PUFI.  By the way, Peterson had a Peruvian owl named after him in 1986, but this is the first North American bird to bear his name.

As you can imagine, discussion on these changes had already dragged on longer than anyone wanted, so the meeting was adjourned; allowing the members to get outside and get back to birding. 

Moving on to report on the botanists’ meeting, we have a few changes of plant names as well.  The first plant discussed had one of the same problems as the birds... Common Milkweed.   Since I’ve already talked about ‘common’, I’ll move onto the other irritant with this name-- ‘weed’.   Its definition is a ‘plant out of place’.  Common Milkweed is not out of place anywhere, really... in fact, it’s desirable-- for both its beauty and its importance as being the host of Monarch caterpillars.  Henceforth, it shall be known as Monarch Flower. 

The newly named Monarch Flower, with an Aphrodite Fritillary on it.

There was some discussion about the name ‘Skunk Cabbage’ being too repulsive, but it was decided that it actually fit the plant.  Consideration was given to changing the name of Ragweed to Sneezeweed, but that name was already taken.  Someone else wanted to change the name White Pine to Green Pine, which seemed like a good idea; but then several people said that would be confusing, since all pines are green.  That was tabled until a better name could be thought of. 

Like the ornithologists meeting, the botanists meeting was running rather long, so just one final plant name was brought up for consideration: Hepatica. 

It was agreed that this name certainly didn’t suit this delicate spring beauty.  Someone immediately suggested Spring Beauty for its name, but, sadly, that was already taken.  Another person spoke up and said, “They always make me happy when I see them”.  Her name was Patty, so now the name for Hepatica has been changed to ‘Happy Patty Flower’.

Oh, and by the way, Happy April Fool’s Day!