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Hi all,
While I support the sentiment expressed by Tim that
we should make birdwatching user friendly I agree with David that long names are
usally not a problem as people shorten them or use a shorter for field use
anyway e.g. BFCS or Bifcus for Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike and Peewee for
Magpie-lark. I also agree with David, for field situations, that 'it
doesn't matter what you call a bird as long as the person you are talking to
knows what you are talking about', however I strongly disagree with the
example he uses i.e. Jabiru vs Black-necked Stork. The Jabiru is a South
American stork and the Black-necked Stork is not confined to Australia. It
doesn't matter if you are talking to non-birwatchers who know the stork as
'Jabiru' but it does matter if you are trying to educate up and coming
birdwatchers or scientists or discussing the species in a public (and
international) forum like Birding-aus. Like it or lump it Black-necked
Stork is the official common name for Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus and
this applies throughout its whole range. Field guides and reference texts
now use Black-necked Stork (abbreviated as BNS) as the common name, usually
indicating other common names such as Jabiru, Policeman Bird etc.. For
those who don't know the full story of why Jabiru is not an appropriate name for
our only stork I would be happy to forward a copy of my Black-necked Stork
Update 4 which fully explains this. I was once a strong opponent of the
use of the name Black-necked Stork - until I learnt the full story.
Regards
Greg
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