Eponyms: scouts despatched

[Rob Geraghty via Canberrabirds <>]

I hope we aren't all forced to change bird names to satisfy what as far as I can tell is a tiny minority of people with an agenda. I'm getting pretty tired of being told that everything about Australia after the arrival of Europeans is evil. ☹️ I'm not saying that there weren't atrocities in the process of colonisation, but there seems to be a push to erase the last 200 years of history. 

On Sat, 2 Mar 2024, 12:01 Mark Clayton via Canberrabirds, <> wrote:

I am curious to see just how far this will be taken. Are they going to rename the state of Victoria after all the atrocities committed in the name of Queen Victoria in many parts of the world? I doubt it so why change bird names. It all seems like some people have nothing better to do with their time – how about finding out just how badly off are our bird species? Time for a new atlas  and NO the eBird data is NOT good enough.

 

Mark

 

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Your last paragraph offers cause for hope Geoffrey.  With luck it will be like the scene in Blazing Saddles, where one wagon has to form its own circle.

 

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

https://mallacootaweatherwildlife.blogspot.com/

 

 

On Sat, 2 Mar 2024 at 10:51, Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Into my email box just now came something  called Birdlife Bulletin for March. There is a section headed ‘Birdlife Australia in the media: March 2024. Find out more about our bird conservation work around the country with our monthly multimedia round-up.’

 

The first item is headed ‘Should our birds be named after people?’  There follows: ‘In Australia, dozens of bird species are named after people. But with so many of these historical figures tied to colonial violence, there’s a growing movement to have them renamed. Amid a review of eponymous bird names (led by BirdLife Australia’s Research and Conservation Committee), PhD student Felix Cehak delves into this cultural conversation.’

 

There is a link  to an article by Felix in The Conversation, mainly about possible renaming of Albert’s Lyrebird. There is not much about the procedures now in train (see my earlier note on this),but Felix does say: ‘Some Australian scientists and birdwatchers (including one from the peak ornithological body Birdlife Australia) have proposed a review, particularly of names with colonial associations.’  There is a further link to the publishing details and abstract of the piece in Emu ‘Why Australian common bird names should respond to societal change’ (Garnett, Maurer & Garrard).

 

Eventually we shall get an announcement from BirdLife Australia about what is going to happen, but at the moment the subject is being probed by scouting parties at a safe distance with just the occasional arrow being fired into the encircled wagons.

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