The American Ornithological Society has committed to changing the English-language names of all birds in North America named after people, along with names deemed offensive or exclusionary. Beginning in 2024, a select AOS committee will rename 70-80 birds species in Canada and the U.S. that have human names: thus new names will be sought for such birds as Barrow’s goldeneye, Sprague’s pipit, Wilson’s snipe, and Cooper’s hawk.

The process has already begun with some species: for example, in 2020 the name of the McCown’s longspur was changed to the Thick-billed longspur, because its original name referred to General John McCown, an officer in the American Confederate army.

“As scientists, we work to eliminate bias,” says AOS executive director and CEO Judith Scarl. “Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1880s, clouded by racism and bigotry, don’t work for us today.”

The AOS’s ultimate goal is to make birding more attractive to those who might be put off by bird names that evoke unpleasant historical associations. North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970. If more people become involved with birding, the AOS hopes more efforts will be made to preserve and protect species and reverse declining bird populations.