You might not expect bird names to be a controversial or even newsworthy issue, but in recent years, they’ve become just that. A large number of bird species take their English names from people, ...

The American Ornithological Society‘s announcement earlier this month that it will end the naming of bird species after people is a decision of refreshing clarity. Because after two years of ...

The bird name game continues. In winter, Berkshire birders delight in catching sight of small gulls sweeping over our lakes and ponds. Bonies! Bonaparte’s gulls have arrived. How long will this ...

Lawmakers in Utah have said state wildlife officials will be barred from using new names for bird species if the American Ornithological Society moves forward with a plan to eliminate roughly 80 names ...

There are thousands of species of birds, and many of their names are well-known to us—blue jay, robin, and mallard, to name just a few. But we have little understanding of the holistic nature of avian ...

The annual Christmas Bird Count is underway. The Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count, now in its 124th year, is the nation's longest running community science bird project. The birds people are ...

Let’s face it, some animals have cooler names than others. For example, how could the blobfish ever hope to compete with the hellbender or the goblin shark? Typically, animals get their names from a ...

A black-capped chickadee by any other name is a Poecile atricapillus. That’s the bird’s scientific name, the reference used worldwide to avoid the confusion a list of local names could offer. For ...

Andrew Gosler has received funding from the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council. I remember my first close encounter with birds. I must have been about three years old and had discovered a ...

The Ural owl is a large, pale-faced owl native to the forests of Europe and northern Asia. With its round head, piercing black eyes, and silent flight, it is an efficient nighttime hunter. Feeding ...