Mr. Cooper is about to Lose his Hawk

 

by Pa Rock

Feeder of Birds

The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days here in the Ozarks, a circumstance that has allowed me to get a few things done outdoors.  Yesterday I took down all of the hanging baskets and their dead plants, former flowers which I carefully tended since early spring.  Today I will use several of those now vacant plant hooks to hang bird feeders for the winter.  It will take a couple of weeks for the word to spread, but soon the birds of winter, and especially the beautiful red cardinals, will be back at the feeders and enjoying their annual winter gossip and feeding sessions.

The squirrels may leave them alone this winter because the summer nut production has been astounding.  The acorns are bigger and more plentiful, and hickory nuts absolutely carpet the ground.  I only have one walnut tree, and it usually is not very productive, but this year the crop was amazing.  The squirrels will have a fat winter, and the deer, who like the acorns, should also fare better than usual.

Birds of North America have been in the news more than usual this fall.  The American Ornithological Society has announced that it will officially be changing the names of seventy or eighty bird species beginning next year.   The birds getting the new monikers will be those named after people.  It turns out that not every person whose name was shared with a bird was worthy of the honor.

The process of changing bird names has been on-going over the years whenever a name of a bird became recognized as inappropriate and began being discussed.  In 2020, for instance,  McCown's Longspur, a bird that had been named for Confederate General John P. McCown, was renamed the "thick-billed longspur," which is far more descriptive of the actual bird without promoting racist baggage rooted in the American Civil War.  Scott's Oriole, named after the General Winfield Scott who helped remove the Cherokee from their homelands, will also be renamed.  Bird names tied to individuals involved in historical wrongs will be among some of the first to be changed.

The emphasis now will be on finding names that actually make sense for the birds, that help to describe the various species to researchers and bird enthusiasts alike.  Eventually all birds which bear names related to actual humans will undergo a name change.   Public input in selecting new names will be solicited.

So good-bye Wilson's Warbler, Steller's Jay, and Cooper's Hawk. We'll miss you Lewis's Woodpecker, Bewick's Wren, and Gambel's Quail.   It will probably take us awhile to learn your new names, but be patient and we will reconnect at the feeders!

(I suppose this brings to an end my nascent campaign to have my favorite bird, the "Turkey Vulture," renamed "Pa Rock's Buzzard!"  Oh well, perhaps in a future life I will be one.  Who's up for some delicious roadkill?!)