HN Explorer

9 comments

[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 37.2 ms ] thread
Bostonian
How will erasing the past contributions of birders increase diversity in birding? How many non-white potential birders have actually complained about bird names such as "Anna's Hummingbird, Gambel's Quail, Lewis's Woodpecker, Bewick's Wren, Bullock's Oriole"?
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
nyanmatt
Anna wasn’t a birder though. She was royalty given tribute by Rene Lesson. Anne d'Essling‘s only connection to ornithology is through marriage. So why does she get a bird?

This is the only example referenced of which I know its origins. However it illustrates an issue with names that have no connection to the science of birds. The naming as tribute was surely transactional in some way (to curry favor perhaps) and really should be replaced.

jaclaz
I propose to change "yak shaving" into "birds renaming".
mydriasis
I think yak shaving implies that this would be a tedious step toward something greater, but there's nothing greater at the end of the task, here
jaclaz
You mean that reducing the risk of offending - maybe - a handful of oversensitive people[1] is not a great enough end? ;)

[1] none with any actual interest in ornitology, BTW.

beardyw
Perhaps they will stop calling a kind of thrush a robin. The early settlers knew well that it wasn't anything like the robins from home. Why do that?

Sorry, I love our European robin and they seem to like us humans too. And Robin is a name isn't it.

pmdulaney
The sad thing is that even after peak wokeness is far in the rear-view mirror, saner heads will not be able to restore the original names. What is needed, right now, is for people of color to stand up and say, "No, we do not endorse this foolishness -- do not use assumed cover from us to justify this inanity."