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It’s in Your Nature: Keeping up with bird name changes

Published November 08. 2025 10:22AM

Recently, Ms. Spicer from the Bowmanstown area sent an email to me regarding her sighting of a Northern harrier.

I confirmed her descriptions of the raptor and that she did a good job at its identification.

Her next comment though, gave me the idea for this column. She noted that she learned the bird as being called a marsh hawk, and in fact, that was once its official name.

I also grew up identifying it as a marsh hawk. (I liked the name marsh hawk because it actually is a good descriptor of its nesting and preferred feeding areas.)

When I began teaching in 1975, I tried to add as many nature and biology posters, pictures, bird nests, etc., to my classroom and on the walls as teaching aids and to pique interest.

I purchased wildlife charts from the Pennsylvania Game Commission that included: Birds of the Forests, Mammals of the Forests, etc., etc. The poster with drawings of most of the raptors in Pennsylvania still listed sparrow hawks, pigeon hawks, duck hawks, and of course the marsh hawk. Today, the sparrow hawk is correctly called a kestrel, the pigeon hawk is now a merlin, and the duck hawk, the peregrine falcon.

When I was a youngster in East Weissport, Baltimore orioles regularly nested close by. A few years later, the name was changed to Northern oriole. Now, at least for now, it is called the Baltimore oriole again. When I eventually got my first pair of binoculars, I could expand my bird identification of the smaller birds that often remained high in the trees. One of the most common warblers I was seeing was the myrtle warbler. Well, now it is the yellow-rumped warbler.

Why the name changes?

The American Ornithological Society is the accepted organization of ornithologist and experts who make the name changes. Beginning in 2024, it began looking at bird names, in particular, birds from the U.S. and Canada. I thought that the scientific world was less susceptible to criticisms, much like those that led to name changes from the Washington Redskins, etc.

But thinking of one name change that made me understand it better was the name change for a duck, once called an oldsquaw. (Now, in respect, it is called a long-tailed duck). To quote the president of the AOS: “There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today.”

You and I aren’t making these decisions; are they correct? I guess it is a matter of what we believe, but know for sure, the AOS is looking at over 70 different bird names, and you may have to purchase new bird guides to be up to date. Better???

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: It is now beginning the prime rutting time in white-tailed deer. True or False: A doe needs to be at least 17 months old to be bred.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates captive deer pens/preserves, etc., not the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com

The American kestrel is one of the three falcon species with name changes. When this writer started birding and received Pennsylvania Game Commission publications, the kestrel was called a sparrow hawk. BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
The falcon midway in size between the kestrel and peregrine falcon is the merlin. It was originally named the pigeon hawk.
The largest falcon species was aptly called the duck hawk. Its favored prey was indeed waterfowl. Of course, our fastest flying bird is now called the peregrine falcon. Today, many tall city buildings and bridges host nesting pairs.
One of the hawks I first identified on Sunday drives with my family in the early ’60s was the marsh hawk. Today, they are officially named harriers. Male harriers, like this one, are nicknamed gray ghosts.
The dusky grouse of our Western mountain states was once named the blue grouse.
Once called the green-backed heron, our rather common small heron is correctly identified as the green heron.
One of our college field trips for field zoology was to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware, where we went to identify the big variety of ducks. In 1974, the American wigeon was called a baldpate because from a distance its white forehead gave it a bald look.
Our summer resident towhees were once named rufous-sided towhees. Today, the correct name is the eastern towhee.
I remember finding my first catbird nest in a backyard in East Weissport. It is now officially named the gray catbird.
The Baltimore oriole became the Northern oriole, but now it’s officially the Baltimore oriole again.
My first field guide identifies this vireo species as the solitary vireo. Its name has changed to the blue-headed vireo.
Common winter feeder visitors are juncos, but they are correctly identified as dark-eyed juncos today.
The myrtle warbler of my younger birding days is now identified as the yellow-rumped warbler. This winter plumage yellow-rumped warbler was eating bayberries in Cape May, New Jersey, a few autumns ago.
Tags:
Barry Reed, Environment