I’d prefer to see Lathyrus japonicus (a coastal species which has a global distribution, including north america’s great lakes) switch to its now-disused presumably junior synonym Lathyrus maritimus.
American robin to American thrush
Ring-necked duck to ring-billed duck
Red-bellied woodpecker to red-naped woodpecker (since red-necked woodpecker is already a thing)
Orange-crowned warbler into anything else really
Olive warbler to ocotero
Sora to American crake or sora crake
I agree that a species common name shouldn’t come from a person. But if I discover a new species, you bet it’s scientific name is going to be named after me!
@rangertreaty50 Not to be rude, but you should understand that it is considered disrespectful in the scientific community to name species after yourself.
I would probably fit my name in somehow while still trying give a name descriptive of the species.
That’s why you get someone else to describe the species you discover, with the agreement they use your name.
T. gbirdnerdii - has a nice ring to it :)
With species named after places, I think most of them could be changed. With species named after people, the only ones that I really have a problem with are ones that have an obvious name; Wilson’s Warbler? Not Black-capped, or Black-crowned Warbler. But on the hand, descriptive names are often no more helpful than others in ID’ing; Yellow-throated Warbler? Which warbler that has a yellow throat are you referring to?
Couple of other changes:
brentturcotte suggested changing Yellow-bellied flycatcher to Conifer Flycatcher, good, in that case;
Great-crested Flycatcher to Yellow-bellied flycatcher
American Coot to Black Gallinule
Screech Owls to Wailing Owls
Any Bumblebee with yellow, gold, golden, lemon, or black in the description change to something else.
There’s already a pine flycatcher, that might be confusing.
Phainopepla to mistletoebird would be cool if that name wasn’t already in use.
Pyrrhuloxia to desert cardinal? Well, not so sure, I like pyrrhuloxia too.
Most of my ideas are like the above, but I do appreciate not just the charm but how “established” names are already. I don’t think I could live with great crested changing to yellow-bellied or coot to black gallinule.
Worm-eating warbler to Eyebrowed warbler is the only one I’ve thought of that I’d actually like using.
I like the current names. It takes some practice to remember how to spell them, and it impresses non-birders when you toss out such an obscure name. ;-)
“Is that the scientific name???” :)
Does that sound like a content cat that sneezes unexpectedly?
I am not in favor of words I have to imagine, most often incorrectly, how to pronounce mentally when reading, ask people how to spell something before I realize, “oh, that’s what they’re talking about”, or because of my hearing having to repeatedly ask, “What was that?”
Spur-winged Plover to rattling-bird due to the noise they make.
Perhaps change Yellow-bellied Flycatcher to Northern Conifer Flycatcher, to eliminate confusion with the southern Pine Flycatcher.
Black Bear to “North American Bear” or similar. They are only sometimes black, and the non-black individuals get confused for grizzly bears all the time due to the misnomer of a name.
That would work for me.
There are some birds that really deserve better names…and once had them, before standardized naming took hold:
American Tree Sparrow…spends the whole of its breeding life in the mostly tree-less lowlands Canada’s Far North. The name is nonsensical. Old names getting my vote include Canada Sparrow and Winter Chippy.
Belted Kingfisher = Halcyon
Common Nighthawk = Piramidig
Eastern Towhee = Chewink
Hermit Thrush = Swamp Angel
Least Flycatcher = Chebec. Just like its call.
Northern Flicker = Yellowhammer
White-breasted Nuthatch = Devil Downhead.
I would also vote for deleting superfluous elements of butterfly and moth names. Some examples:
Long Dash Skipper = Long Dash
Blackberry Looper Moth = Blackberry Looper
Celery Looper Moth = Celery Looper
And…the moth Clepsis flavidana. Apparently, this critter has no common name, and - having had what appears to be the first record for Ontario - I’m stumping for Jack-o-Lantern. The markings on this moth’s back look remarkably like a jack-o-lantern face: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/3838701
So a Carrion Crow would then be called a "Treasure " Crow.
Phyla nodiflora
Instead of turkey tangle frogfruit… change common name back to Texas frogfruit.