Birders on Prince Edward Island will be learning some new names in 2024, after the American Ornithological Society announced it is renaming all birds in the United States and Canada that were named after people.
The decision by the world’s largest professional organization for ornithologists will affect as many as 80 species, including about 25 that have been spotted on Prince Edward Island.
Some birds named after people “have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,” according to the society.
“The idea is largely to make the situation more accessible for birders, and also to remove any names that are considered offensive for certain sectors of the birding community,” said Kathy Martin, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of British Columbia.
