Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Several readers sent me a link to this article because they saw me quoted in it; I’d missed it even though I subscribe to the Free Press. It’s a pretty fair and dispassionate description of the fight in the bird community to rename birds named after bad people like Audubon (who had slaves)—or even rename … Continue reading The Free Press covers the bird-name controversy
The American Ornithological Society has issued a Diktat that all common bird names derived from a person’s name, or “eponyms,” are going to be discarded and replaced with descriptive names. The Latin binomials or “scientific names”, however, are not going to be changed. Below is the order from on high; click on headline below to … Continue reading They’re going to change the common names of all birds named after people
As you’ll know if you’re a regular here, many “progressive” birders are on a mission: to expunge from ornithology the common names of all birds that are “eponyms” of people who did bad stuff in their day. Bird names slated for the trashcan include Townsend’s warbler, six birds named after Alfred Russel Wallace, McCown’s longspur, … Continue reading More racism in birding and bird names
In two previous posts (here and here), I described the movement to “cancel” the names of those birds named after people who held views we find reprehensible today. Names given after people are called “eponymous” names. Two of the eponyms that are being removed are any bird named after Audubon himself (he decapitated Mexican battlefield … Continue reading More on woke birding: changing the names of all birds named after people will at least create an inclusive birding community—and help conserve birds
The latest gambit of Woke politics is to trawl back through everyone’s history, and, if you find something unsavory, that person must be canceled. Now sometimes this is okay, as when statues are taken down that honored Confederates, particularly postbellum statues meant to solidify the established system of segregation. (I’d prefer, however, that those statues … Continue reading “First they came for the bird names. . .” Woke craziness creeps into bird taxonomy
It’s Sunday, and we have a themed batch of bird photos from John Avise. John’s IDs and commentary is indented, and you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them: Derisible Bird Names Birders are often ridiculed as nincompoops who go to great lengths to spot Bristle-thighed Curlews, Great Tits, or Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Such derision … Continue reading Readers’ wildlife photos
I’ve written several times about the current drive to rename plant and animal species, usually on the grounds that their common or scientific names reflect somebody in the past who did something bad, like owning slaves. (Most of this drive has involved bird names.) In general I’m not a huge fan of changing common names, … Continue reading Once again: should we rename animal species?
Welcome to Thursday, November 16, 2023, and National Fast Food Day, which for some people is every day. I do get a hankering for a McDonald’s cheeseburger and fries every once in a while, and I noticed in Paris that the McDonald’s places were doing a brisk business with the French. I will soon start … Continue reading Thursday: Hili dialogue
