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Ordinarily I would agree with this viewpoint and certainly I do
in this case. I was one who voted or argued against the name Indian Myna when
the group started, for that reason. However "Indian Myna" does have a
relevance to the aims of the group, that the name Common Myna does not convey.
The program exists mainly because it is a feral (impacting on native species),
not because it is common. As for confusion with the Noisy Miner, that confusion
is because of the Myna / Miner word similarity and some similarities in
appearance and behaviour. Confusion is not because of Common / Indian
issue. The descriptor "Common" is likely to raise more confusion with the Noisy
Miner than the name "Indian", because the Noisy Miner would often be thought of
as common, but probably not often thought of as Indian.
Besides, communication is about 2 way understanding. Mark mentions
IOC, an international group but their deliberations
on nomenclature are not about communicating with this group of people: the
general public in TV land.
About
errors like this that keep confusing people, especially
beginners. Yes true but I suggest more confusion
comes from changing official names and this whole thing about keep updated lists of the world’s birds. Remember the
silliness about calling the Red-browed Finch a Red-browed Firetail and regarding
that as the CORRECT name for a few years, then fortunately reverting to that it is a finch
closer to Star Finch and Crimson Finch. Then there is
the Eastern / Pacific / Common Koel, etc. Presumably
each of these has been a CORRECT name.
What
makes one name "correct" and one not correct is a whole variable issue full of
the whims of history. The names are just symbols or conventions. They are not
absolute. Indian Myna was the CORRECT name as
in the official name when I grew up (until 1978). I dispute that one name is
more correct just because it is the modern name. I don't believe the Australian
Magpie is a Magpie in the sense that Magpie is defined as a group of mostly
colourful crows of the northern hemisphere, or that Willie Wagtail is a Wagtail
in the sense that Wagtail is defined as another group of passerines. There are
hundreds of such examples. But these are correct names.
As for
"a
lot of people in Birds Australia, or whatever they are calling themselves this
week" that just displays a total lack of respect for
the CORRECT name of
the now merged organisation (birdlife
Australia, which Mark should be well aware of - and I think
is an awful name) and I think this is sarcasm that keeps
confusing people, especially beginners. As well as showing a lack of
respect for the hopefully new stability of the organisation that was created of
a merger of two clubs that have each been functioning for about a century. Also
for what it is worth "the out of date Christidis and Boles"
uses Common Myna, as did the 1978 recommended names list. As for The myna is found as a naturally occurring species in much of
South-east Asia, not just India, well sure. There are any number of
species with geographical or other parts of their name that are not all
inclusive. And other Myna species occur in much of South-east Asia. Likewise common is not
universally accurate, as it is not common everywhere.
Philip
G’day all,
One of the most useful purposes of a chat line such as that
from COG is that we are able to educate people in many things, not least
the correct name of birds. One that keeps cropping up and that annoys me
greatly, as it did the late great Steve Wilson, is the name Indian Myna. The
bird’s CORRECT name is Common Myna, Acridotheres
tristis (that’s the bird’s scientific name in italics for those who are not
sure about what it means). The name is that used by the IOC, an international
group that is one of several such organisations that keep updated lists of the
world’s birds and the list that most people, including a lot of people in Birds
Australia, or whatever they are calling themselves this week, are now using
rather than the out of date Christidis and Boles that COG follows. The myna is
found as a naturally occurring species in much of South-east Asia, not just
India.
I know the name does not fit into CIMAG’s catchy name (CCMAG
just doesn’t have that “ring” to it) but let’s get the name of the species
correct. It is errors like this that keep confusing people, especially
beginners.
I also recently saw a program on, I think, A Current Affair,
that spoke of Canberra’s concerted effort to eradicate the myna. Part way
through it flashed up a picture of a Noisy Miner, (Manorina
melanocephala) with no explanation that it was a different, and native,
species. Confusion between the two species is common and not helped by this sort
of mix up.
If you want to learn bird names, please learn, and USE, the
correct one.
Mark
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