Robert Francis: I'd never thought of using Google Ngram as a tool to track changes in bird names over time - it's amazing to see once-common names replaced by "official" bird names, including some recent changes I wasn't aware of (Marsh Hawk ➡️ Northern Harrier; Louisiana Heron ➡️ Tricolored Heron) 🗃️🪶

I'd never thought of using Google Ngram as a tool to track changes in bird names over time - it's amazing to see once-common names replaced by "official" bird names, including some recent changes I wasn't aware of (Marsh Hawk ➡️ Northern Harrier; Louisiana Heron ➡️ Tricolored Heron) 🗃️🪶

An interesting thing about historic zoology collections is that they let you trace how things like names change over time. What used to be commonly called a Hedge Sparrow is now more commonly (and correctly) called a Dunnock.

Here are some more - interesting to see, for example, the point that they stopped hyphenating Old-squaw (and then finally stopped using the slur-based term altogether).

And if you look at the area under those lines, it's pretty obvious that Long-tailed Duck is the more popular term, historically as well as currently.

I did some of this a while back, curious to see whether "official common name" changes have effects. TL;DR: not much evidence that they do, more likely they respond to pre-existing shifts in usage: scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2022/11/22/c...

Can you change a species’ common name?scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com Content warning: Discusses common names based on ethnic and other slurs and on the names of people with potentially upsetting histories. Other warning: considerably longer than usual. But, I think, al...

Really interesting article - thanks for sharing! I'm curious for your take on the graphs for Louisiana ➡️ Tricolored Heron and Marsh Hawk ➡️ Northern Harrier. Both of these shifts are pretty dramatic and seem to be driven by AOU name changes.

I'd have to look at those with a finer temporal scale. Given lags in publication, we'd need to see the AOU change precede the shifts by a couple of years. It's possible - and nice that those have longer post-change datasets than some other examples!

I guess this raises the question of what kind of effects you're looking for. A lot of the names that are currently under discussion aren't really being used by the general public to start with. Like, how many non-birders say "I saw a Wilson's Snipe"? Or "I saw a Franklin's Gull"?

I mean, I think we all know, deep down, that no matter what we change the official name to, people are still going to refer to a Franklin's Gull as a seagull. 😭🤣

Its harder for us old timers. For 60 years I called them Myrtle Warblers… no idea why that’s offensive.

Myrtle Warbler is now considered a subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler, though there are constant rumors that they will eventually switch back. It's just a matter of trying to better understand and communicate the relationships between the birds.

Maybe go to a number not a name? Tie it to the unique DNA sequence in the chromosome. Bye bye birdie, hello 138.567.1325.AGA7

...that would definitely have a unifying effect (because everyone would hate it). 😭

Oh this is fascinating! Great work! It really helps to visualize how there really isn't one "historic" name in English, but instead more like a forming and shifting consensus.

It's a great tool for unpicking changes like this over time. Looks like you're down the rabbit hole now! (Or should that be coney hole?)

I'm also fascinated by the general decline of *any* of these names, post-1960s or so. I wonder how the decline of bird name use tracks with the decline in actual bird populations?

Cool.

"Stop trying to make Red Thrush happen"

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