[Tweeters] AOS Species Name Change -Revising My Blog Post from June 2018 about Birds Named after Some Noted "Humans"

[B B]

In June 2018 I published a blog post entitled "Audubon, Swainson, Cassin, Townsend, Steller, Pallas and Wilson and the Birds Named After Them".
Avoiding all politics, it gave a little (maybe too little) history on these men (all men) who have played significant roles in American ornithological history.  It included my own history seeing species named after them and included photos of the men and the birds.  Being of interest to me, I thought this background might be of interest to others as well when seeing a Wilson's Warbler, or a Swainson's Thrush or a Steller's Jay etc.  That was it - nothing more, no politics, no angst - just birder (yes, white male birder) stuff.  I just revisited that post and added the following postscript which also serves as the reason for republishing the blog post - and sharing it again on Tweeters.
Postscript:On October 3, 2023, the American Ornithological Society announced "three important commitments related to English common names of birds":   
   - "The AOS commits to changing all English-language names of birds within its geographic jurisdiction that are named directly after people (eponyms), along with other names deemed offensive and exclusionary, focusing first on those species that occur primarily within the U.S. or Canada. 
   - The AOS commits to establishing a new committee to oversee the assignment of all English common names for species within the AOS’s jurisdiction; this committee will  broaden participation by including a diverse representation of individuals with expertise in the social sciences, communications, ornithology, and taxonomy. 
   - The AOS commits to actively involving the public in the process of selecting new English bird names."

On its website answering why such action was being taken, the first response was:

"Council is making these commitments to do two equally important things: to address past wrongs and to engage far more people in the study, protection, conservation, and enjoyment of birds. The impact of bird names reaches well beyond our membership. Therefore, when it was brought to our attention that some English bird names were viewed as harmful or exclusionary, including some named after people who were perceived as symbols of racism and colonialism, the AOS worked hard to reconcile its commitment to uphold stability in taxonomy and names while also addressing concerns of historical biases and social injustices."

For the most part, national media reported this announcement with emphasis on the highlighted portion of the answer, with the Washington Post for example publishing an article under the title Dozens of bird names honoring enslavers and racists will be changed... The AOS of course gave other reasons for the change as but as with almost everything else in our social media driven world today, this action has created much discussion, difference of opinion and controversy.
When I read "opinion pieces" (thoughtful and not), rants, explanations, arguments etc. on this subject, among other thoughts - which I will not express here - I recalled this blog post I had written and published some years ago about some of the men (it was all men) who have many species familiar to me and all birders named after them. Whatever else they may have or not have been, they were all part of the history of birding in America and I was interested to know more about them and enjoyed my minimal research and finding and enjoy having that background when I hear or see these species. I fully acknowledge that my research did not examine their personal lives, their politics, their opinions and behaviors - the part they played in "historical biases and social injustices". Maybe that was/is an important omission. Maybe there is a blog post by someone elsewhere that delves into these details and presents these men as they "really were" - outside of ornithology. I stayed within ornithology and strictly from that perspective am republishing this blog post with this postscript.
Here is the link to that postscripted blog post:
https://blairbirding.com/2018/06/09/audubon-swainson-cassin-townsend-steller-pallas-and-wilson-and-the-birds-named-after-them/
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