[Tweeters] List of birds by common name - Wikipedia; and My “Common” Concern

[Steve Hampton]

Agreed, the split of Winter Wren into Pacific, Winter (and I think Eurasian
Wren as well) retained Winter in the East, which is clearly a violation of
that policy. For exactly the reasons they were concerned about, when you
say you saw a Winter Wren in the West before the split, people would be
confused whether you mean today's Winter Wren or a Pacific Wren back when
it was called Winter Wren.

The split of Mew into Short-billed and Common raised the same issue in a
different way. Many argued that Mew could be retained for North American
birds because the Brits (and gull people in the North Am) already called
the European one Common Gull anyway, and reserved Mew for just North
America. So there was no problem with the split, because it was essentially
already a reality with the English names on the ground. The only real
confusion area would be vagrants - from either form - on the East Coast.
But Short-billed was the original historic name for the subspecies in North
America (*bracyrhynchos *means short-billed), so there was an obvious
fallback. Had that historic name not existed, perhaps we would have kept
Mew.

Okay, enough nerding out for me, on to birding!





On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 9:59 PM Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com> wrote:


> Agreed, Louise.

> And thank you for your responses, Dennis.

> I believe another example is: Eastern and Western Bluebirds.

> Thank you,

> Dan Reiff

> Sent from my iPhone

>

> On Jan 9, 2024, at 11:23 AM, Louise <louiserutter1000 at gmail.com> wrote:

>

> 

> I can understand the theory, but then why is it not applied consistently?

> The east coast still has a winter wren, when we got a Pacific wren.

>

> Louise Rutter

> Kirkland

>

> On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 11:19 AM Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>

> wrote:

>

>> Dan, at least that’s an easy one to answer. Rufous-sided was forever lost

>> from towhee when the species was divided into Eastern and Spotted Towhees.

>> One of the protocols of splitting species was (and I guess still is) not

>> leaving the previous name with either of the two newly recognized species,

>> entirely to avoid confusion.

>>

>> Blue-headed, Cassin’s and Plumbeous Vireos were the result of splitting

>> of Solitary Vireo, just for another example. Sage Sparrow was split into

>> Sagebrush and Bell’s Sparrows, Plain Titmouse split into Oak and Juniper

>> Titmice. Etc.

>>

>> Dennis Paulson

>> Seattle

>>

>> P.S. I still call them Mew Gulls, knowing all the while that I’m bringing

>> shame on myself and my family.

>>

>> > On Jan 9, 2024, at 2:44 AM, Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com> wrote:

>> >

>> > It’s Wikipedia, but interesting.

>> >

>> > My hope is there was some person named “Common” so that some of my

>> favorite, great birds, including, Common Poorwill, Common Nighthawk, Common

>> Raven, Common Eider and Common Loon will finally be renamed with the

>> respect they deserve.

>> > Also, I have never understood why the naming committee changed the name

>> Rufous-sided Towhee to Spotted Towhee.

>> > It was such a great name, and descriptive, and fun to say!

>> > Who are these people that name bird species?

>> >

>> > While filming the Red Fox Sparrow at Ed N’s great backyard a few months

>> ago, I was introduced to his neighbor. As we waited for the bird to arrive

>> we discussed bird names that had changed.

>> >

>> > “I have never gotten over the name change from Rufous-sided Towhee” I

>> said.

>> > “I still call them Rufous-sided Towhees” she said.

>> >

>> > I was refreshingly surprised by her response!

>> >

>> > Best regards and Happy New Year to the Tweets community!

>> >

>> > Dan Reiff

>> > Mercer Island

>> >

>> > Article listing all common bird names:

>> >

>> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_by_common_name

>> >

>> > Sent from my iPhone

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-- 
​Steve Hampton​
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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