Well, things are about to change: the AOS (American Ornithological Society) decided to change the common names of most American birds. What you thought you knew is not what you know now. I should be used to this: birds I grew up with have changed their identities several times: the rufous-sided towhee is now the spotted towhee, the sparrow hawk is now the kestrel, and Oregon junco is now a dark-eyed junco. Oh! And lest I forget, a bird I have commonly known as a scrub jay now is a California scrub jay. Apparently, it is a sub-species to the scrub jay.
The reasoning given by the AOS has to do with easily identifying birds by their markings: the red-breasted nuthatch and the white breasted nuthatch, for example: the common names describe the bird you are looking at. Another reason is that sometimes these birds were named after the person who first identified them, like the Audubon’s warbler. Oops, I’m sorry: that changed years ago to the yellow-rumped warbler. Apparently, Audubon fell out of grace. Now it’s names like Leach’s this or Wilson’s whatever that are heading toward the cutting block. And I get that: birds don’t care a whit about the name of the person who first identified them: birds were already aware of their own presence.
When I led my first snipe hunt, I had a Peterson’s Field Guide ready so I could prove that there really is a bird called a snipe, never mind that it is a coastal bird and we lived far inland. They could still fly into a paper bag if you sat and yelled “Heeeere, Snipey-snipey-snipe!” long enough.
I have not heard what the “new” common names will be, so what follows is a lot of conjecture.
Brewer’s Blackbird – Parking Lot Blackbirb; Starling’s Friend
Swainson’s Thrush – Invisible Melody Birb; Evening Song Thrush
Bewick’s Wren – Eyebrow Wren
Steller’s Jay – Screeching Jay; Peanut Thief
Anna’s Hummingbird – Ruby-headed Nectar Sucker; Angry Hummer
Cooper’s Hawk – Greater Stripey-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk – Lesser Stripey-tailed Hawk
Wilson’s Snipe – Here Snipey! Or Paperbag Snipe (Would certainly help when you’re trying to convince someone to go hunting them)
Swainson’s Hawk – Not Red-Tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk – Rusty Hawk (because no one can pronounce “ferruginous”)
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl – Rusty Owl (see above)
Flammulated Owl – Fire Owl (I have no idea how it got its name in the first place as it does not resemble fire or flames)
Turkey Vulture – Baby Condor; Garbage Birb
Downy Woodpecker – Baby Pileated Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker – Teenage Pileated Woodpecker
California Gull – French Fry Gull; Parking Lot Gull
Canada Goose – Poop Birb
Townsend’s Warbler – Black-eyed Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler – I really don’t have a name for this birb, but it definitely needs a name change. I mean, they could have just shortened that appellation to “Notary Warbler” and assigned it a stamp and a ledger.
I did get my panties in a wad when I first heard about the Big Bird Name Change. I won’t run out and buy a new Field Guide just to be able to correctly name a birb I already know under another name, so I will be sentenced to forever misidentifying birds. At least I won’t call any little grey bird in my backyard “a common Yard Sparrow”.
As one birder on a forum I follow said, “As long as we still have tits and boobies, I’m okay.” I’ll just add, “And dickcissels.”
*this is all tongue-in-cheek and I am open to even better names for common birbs.
All photos are mine. Lead Image is a bushtit.
Jaci Dawn 