In November 2023, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) announced a decision to change all eponymous and exclusionary English-language common names of birds within its geographic jurisdiction. Since then, the AOS has been working behind the scenes to respond to our members’ concerns, collect information about who could help with the emerging initiative, and provide our …
Post updated on 14 May 2024, to add Harris’s Sparrow to the list of extant species with eponymous English names whose regular breeding and nonbreeding ranges occur entirely within the U.S. and Canada or nearly so. Post updated 23 September 2024 to correct image caption. In an effort to address past wrongs and engage more …
“There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,” says president. “The time has come for us to transform this process and redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs,” says CEO. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: media@americanornithology.org CHICAGO (November …
It has been a while since the American Ornithological Society (AOS) last informed the ornithology and birding communities about its progress in addressing harmful or exclusionary English bird names and in developing a process to change such names in a thoughtful, proactive way. This initiative is central to the AOS’s goal of building a more …
As you know, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) is evaluating how to address harmful English bird names, and we are thrilled to announce that Carlos Daniel Cadena, Erica Nol, and Troy Peters have agreed to co-chair these efforts moving forward. With guidance and input from our Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the AOS selected leaders who …
Hello, AOS members, partners, and friends! As many of you know, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) has been working to determine the best process for proactively changing harmful and exclusionary English bird names for species within our geographic realm of responsibility. Our most recent public event was a Community Congress, in which we heard different …
After hearing from the many perspectives shared during the Community Congress on English Bird Names hosted by the AOS Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) subcommittee in mid-April, the AOS Council is in the process of forming an ad hoc committee charged with developing recommendations for guidelines and procedures used to identify and change harmful English bird …
The American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Committee hosted a virtual AOS Community Congress on English Bird Names on 16 April 2021 to open a discussion on the complex issues around eponymous English bird names to the wider ornithological and birding communities to promote an even greater awareness of the complexities of name …
Thank you for joining our Community Congress on English Bird Names. The goals of the Community Congress were to increase the awareness of the issue around eponymous English bird names. The Congress aimed to provide a broad range of stakeholders from the birding and ornithological community the opportunity to share their viewpoints, including challenges and …
Why are you holding a Community Congress on eponymous English Bird Names? This event brings together members of the birding and ornithological community, especially birders, scientists, and data managers, to discuss the issue of eponyms. Eponyms are names for birds that honor specific people, often for their contributions to generating knowledge about the particular species …
