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As a lifelong birder and one who holds a Master Bander's permit, I think this is ridiculous.

And worrisome. The BBL (Bird Banding Lab in Laurel MD) has a century's worth of data on birds, to include birds such as the Cooper's Hawk. Banders, scientists, researchers and birders all use a four letter code for the birds, as noted in another post. COHA is COoper's HAwk. All the data and reams of books, papers, etc, all use the four letter code. Now the AOU wants to change that.

Somehow the AOU has ordained itself the Master of Birds in the US and has suddenly decided that certain bird's names are offensive due to the first person to name them had some glitch in character.

Will the AOU decide that birds that migrate to other countries, for instance, Costa Rica or Canada, insist those sovereign nations must knuckle under? Will the Bahamas researchers work be rejected when they refer to endangered Kirtland's warbler by that name (it winters in the Bahamas).

Having birded for most of my life, I can tell you that not ONCE, not once, did I ever meet a fellow birder or bander who even knew who the heck Cooper was. It DOESN'T matter. I do agree that one bird, newly renamed Long Tailed Duck, was given a pejorative name that the Native American's were said to refer to older women. Yes, that one name DID need to be changed. But all the rest, NO. Leave it be.

The cynic in me whispers that maybe the AOU wants to reap big bucks in having all the bird guides redone, to show their changed names. Can you imagine the money to be made, the AOU saying, your worn out Peterson Guide is verboten, you can only use our official one that oh by the way costs a fortune.

Will the AOU compensate the US Government for having to change the entire database of bird names?

will they go through a century's worth of scientific papers, books, et al?

And who will be responsible for changing the names? Will the Anna's hummingbird be called the "winter hummingbird' or red headed hummingbird or what? Do we get to choose the names?

Some of their names are already stupid. the Prothonotary Warbler has a name that makes no sense here in the US, as it's an Old English term for a lawyer, and no one can pronounce it. I WISH they'd change it. I wrote to them years ago asking them to change the name to Peterson's Warbler, to honor Roger Tory Peterson and they said 'oh that's dumb' but not is so many words.

The Yellow Bellied Sapsucker doesn't have a yellow belly. Only the male has a little dab of yellow just below the neck. The Bristle Thighed Curlew is said to have a few bristles just at the base of the leg, and you need to have the Hubble Telescope to see them. If they want to change names, that's the sort that needs changing.

I will continue to use names such as Cooper's Hawk and Anna's Hummingbird. Until the AOU nazis will arrest me and pillory me.

The AOU is stirring a tempest in a teapot.