A black-capped chickadee by any other name is a Poecile atricapillus. That’s the bird’s scientific name, the reference used worldwide to avoid the confusion a list of local names could offer. For ...

Cooper is going to lose his hawk. So is Swainson. The birds won't know or care. And Mssrs. Cooper and Swainson are long deceased. But well-known names like Cooper's hawk aren't expected to be spared ...

The name Aya has many different meanings, all over the world. However, if you look at the Hebrew meaning, Aya is a name linked to the “honey buzzard” and birds in general. (And if you’re wondering: it ...

The American Ornithological Society will remove people’s names from birds. Many of those birds are now named after prominent Philadelphia scientists. In ''American Ornithology,'' Alexander Wilson ...

You might not expect bird names to be a controversial or even newsworthy issue, but in recent years, they’ve become just that. A large number of bird species take their English names from people, ...

Steller's jay, Cooper's hawk, Anna's hummingbird - all of these bird species and dozens more could get new names. That's because the American Ornithological Society has vowed to change the English ...

In the spring and summer of 2021, I wrote four columns on the issue of bird names. This has come around again, in a big way, as the American Ornithological Society has decided to get rid of all bird ...

Bird names had been criticized before, but this race-conscious time seemed to lead to more action: A prairie songbird formerly known as McCown's longspur was changed to thick-billed longspur. The ...