Suppose, just suppose, there was a bird called the Hitler Warbler - would its name need to be be changed?

Bewick's wren - named in honour of  Thomas Bewick though he had no association with the bird and may never have seen one (photo: Minette Lane/Flickr/ Wikimedia Commons)

CONTROVERSY  continues to rage over the decree by the American Ornithological Society that - within its geographical areas of jurisdiction - all bird species named after people should be changed.

Most of the conflict has understandably been in the U.S, but it fizzed anew this week when frontline  British naturalist David Lindo - the Urban Birder - made the subject the focus of one of his popular live webinars.

His  guest was high-profile American ornithologist  Kenn Kaufman  who revealed that, having initially opposed the name-change initiative, he had  now come round to supporting it.

It was back in October that the AOS delivered its edict on the grounds that some birds were named after white supremacists and slavery supporters, thereby giving potential offence to current and future birders.

But opponents countered that it was futile to try to ‘adjust' history and that wholesale dropping of names would be unfair to those individuals whose reputations are untainted by accusations of racism.

Kaufman  (69) noted that, in the U.S., younger and non-white birders had overwhelmingly welcomed the AOS decree.

He went on to claim that the father of American ornithology, John James Audubon, had sometimes named new birds after individuals because he believed it might help him to secure influence that could, in time, prove personally beneficial.

"In effect, he was sucking up to them," he observed. 

Kenn Kaufman - supportive of name changes

Kaufman scoffed at the name of the Swainson's Thrush because it was now acknowledged that William Swainson's writings about the thrush family had been muddled and unhelpful.

He also derided the naming of the Bewick's Wren, noting that the British birdman and wood engraver, Thomas Bewick, had not the slightest association with the species.

Support for Kaufman's  position during the webinar came from British birder and Fleet Street journalist Stuart Winter who argued that naming of birds after ornithologists of yesteryear  was reflective of white male domination of birding.

The time had come to modernise and to consider more determinedly how best to attract the birders of the future.

Bo Beolens, columnist for Bird Watching magazine,  disagreed, claiming  that 90 per cent of birders neither knew nor cared why birds were named after individuals.

Most dramatic intervention of the webinar came from American birder-photographer Rachel Hopper who said that, as a person of Jewish descent, she would be horrified if there had been such a bird as a Hitler's Warbler.

But she insisted that there was no justification for wholesale renaming of all birds named after people.

Ms Hopper was  also critical of the AOS for making its stand without having first sounded out he opinions of the wider membership.

However, it looks as if the decision has now been made.

Now comes the tricky challenge of finding vibrant and descriptive new names for birds ranging from Leach's Storm Petrel to Wilson's Phalarope.

Whether there will be similar moves in the UK to change the names of birds such as Blyth's Reed Warbler remains to be seen. 

Below are the 151 bird species set for a name change, at least in America:

1	Ross's Goose
2	Steller's Eider
3	Stejneger's Scoter
4	Barrow's Goldeneye
5	Gambel's Quail
6	Erckel's Francolin
7	Elliot's Pheasant
8	Lady Amherst's Pheasant
9	Clark's Grebe
10	Vaux's Swift
11	Chapman's Swift
12	Sick's Swift
13	Rivoli's Hummingbird
14	Anna's Hummingbird
15	Costa's Hummingbird
16	Allen's Hummingbird
17	Canivet's Emerald
18	Brace's Emerald
19	Humboldt's Sapphire
20	Xantus's Hummingbird
21	Ridgway's Rail
22	Wilson's Plover
23	Temminck's Stint
24	Baird's Sandpiper
25	Wilson's Snipe
26	Wilson's Phalarope
27	Kittlitz's Murrelet
28	Scripps Murrelet
29	Craveri's Murrelet
30	Cassin's Auklet
31	Sabine's Gull
32	Bonaparte's Gull
33	Ross's Gull
34	Franklin's Gull
35	Pallas's Gull
36	Belcher's Gull
37	Heermann's Gull
38	Forster's Tern
39	Salvin's Albatross
40	Willson's Storm-Petrel
41	Elliot's Storm-Petrel
42	Leach's Storm-Petrel
43	Townsend's Storm-Petrel
44	Ainley's Storm-Petrel
45	Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel
46	Markham's Storm-Petrel
47	Tristram's Storm-Petrel
48	Murphy's Petrel
49	Zino's Petrel
50	Fea's Petrel
51	Cook's Petrel
52	Stejneger's Petrel
54	Bulwer's Petrel
55	Jouanin's Petrel
56	Parkinson's Petrel
57	Cory's Shearwater
58	Buller's Shearwater
59	Newell's Shearwater
60	Bryan's Shearwater
61	Audubon's Shearwater
62	Brandt's Cormorant
63	Cooper's Hawk
64	Gundlach's Hawk
65	Steller's Sea-Eagle
66	Harris's Hawk
67	Ridgway's Hawk
68	Swainson's Hawk
69	Baird's Trogon
70	Lesson's Motmot
71	Williamson's Sapsucker
72	Lewis's Woodpecker
73	Hoffmann's Woodpecker
74	Nuttall's Woodpecker
75	Strickland's Woodpecker
76	Fernandina's Flicker
77	Zeledon's Antbird
78	Euler's Flycatcher
79	Hammond's Flycatcher
80	Say's Phoebe
81	Nutting's Flycatcher
82	La Sagra's Flycatcher
83	Couch's Kingbird
84	Cassin's Kingbird
85	Bell's Vireo
86	Hutton's Vireo
87	Cassin's Vireo
88	Steller's Jay
89	Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
90	Clark's Nutcracker
91	Blyth's Reed Warbler
92	Pallas's Grasshopper-Warbler
93	Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warbler
94	Pallas's Leaf-Warbler
95	Swinhoe's White-eye
96	Sumichrast's Wren
97	Nava's Wren
98	Bewick's Wren
99	Boucard's Wren
100	Cabani's Wren
101	Bendire's Thrasher
102	LeConte's Thrasher
103	Townsend's Solitaire
104	White's Thrush
105	Bicknell's Thrush
106	Swainson's Thrush
107	Bishop's Oo
108	Sprague's Pipit
109	Pallas's Rosefinch
110	Cassin's Finch
111	Lawrence's Goldfinch
112	Smith's Longspur
113	McKay's Bunting
114	Pallas's Bunting
115	Botteri's Sparrow
116	Cassin's Sparrow
117	Bachman's Sparrow
118	Brewer's Sparrow
119	Worthen's Sparrow
120	Baird's Junco
121	Harris's Sparrow
122	Bell's Sparrow
123	Nelson's Sparrow
124	Baird's Sparrow
125	LeConte's Sparrow
126	Henslow's Sparrow
127	Lincoln's Sparrow
128	Abert's Towhee
129	Cabani's Ground-Sparrow
130	Bullock's Oriole
131	Audubon's Oriole
132	Scott's Oriole
133	Brewer's Blackbird
134	Bachman's Warbler
135	Swainson's Warbler
136	Lucy's Warbler
137	Virginia's Warbler
138	Semper's Warbler
139	MacGillivray's Warbler
140	Belding's Yellowthroat
141	Kirtland's Warbler
142	Adelaide's Warbler
143	Grace's Warbler
144	Townsend's Warbler
145	Wilson's Warbler
146	Carmiol's Tanager
147	Lesson's Seedeater
148	Morelet's Seedeater
149	Blackburnian Warbler
150	Zenaida Dove
151	Montezuma Quail

* Also in prospect for a name change is the Eskimo Curlew because 'Eskimo' is now widely regarded as derogatory to indigenous tribes.

* * The Urban Birder webinar, with Kenn Kaufman as guest, is  featured  on YouTube.

In Conservation With… Kenn Kaufman (youtube.com)