Subject: Re: country bird names
Date: Jan 14 13:35:37 1995
From: Alvaro Patricio Jaramillo - jaramill at sfu.ca


>
> OK, now that we're on this subject, I've been wondering...
>
> I gather that there is a list of vernacular, standard, English-language
> names for all(?most) bird species of the world. Or, at least, for those
> in the western hemisphere. Right?

There is no standard at this time, but there is a committee that has
been set up to do this. I have no idea when or where this final list
will be published and how much authority it will have.
>
> These names make it easier for some people (esp. English-speaking
> people) to discuss birds without resorting to using the Latin
> binomials. That's good, I guess.

If you resort to using Latin names its even easier and more useful, as
it can enable you to communicate with foreign birders/ornithologists as
long as you both can understand each other.

>
> What I want to know is whether a "standard" list of bird names exists
> in other languages, e.g., Spanish (a Spanish-speaker's "AOU" list), for
> the birds of the hemisphere/world? If not, why not? If so, how about a
> citation?
>
> E.g., I have a difficult time discussing birding in Colombia with one
> of my brothers-in-law, who is Colombian and is a rank novice birder,
> because most of the birds he might see/discuss have no standard common
> name in Spanish (as far as I know), so he is forced to use the Latin
> binomials. That's ok with me, but not with him, and if we look at
> tweeters discussions, use of common names is good.
>
There is no standard accepted list for spanish birds names, that is
recognized by all Spanish speakers. Probably most individual countries
have standardized common name lists, this is certainly true for Chile and
Argentina, and I imagine Spain. As I understand there is some sort of
list of standardized French names which was put together by French and
Canadian ornithologists, I do not know where this was published though.
I imagine that in South America there will never be a standardized
system, or at least not in the near future. There is so much culture,
nationalism, familiarity associated with some of these names that I
find it difficult to believe that a standardized list would be accepted
by everyone. I could not imagine the Chileans giving up the "Trile"
(Agelaius thilius, Yellow-winged Blackbird) as an official name since
legend has it that the calls of the "Trile" which is onomapoetic (sp?)
is what gave Chile its name! The Argentines call it Varillero ala amarilla.
A few years ago I found an American Redstart in Chile which was the
first record for the country. Recently this record was accepted and added
to the Chilean list. They gave it the Spanish name Estrellita roja Americana
which means American Red star basically, so their tactic was to translate
the English name to Spanish. I think its kind of funny that they made teh
error of calling it a Red Star instead of a Redstart which is not really
easily translated. What strikes me as odd is why they did not use a well
established name from a country like Costa Rica where American Redstarts
are common. That illustrates how unstandardized Spanish names are, and how
unwilling people are to standardize them.
> There are lots of birds with (multiple*) common names in (Colombian)
> Spanish, especially for birds found about the cities and towns. But
> they represent a very small percentage of all Colombian bird species.

I would disagree with this. My experience in Latin America is that there
are hundreds of common names and that they differ from region to region
within one country, and this is not counting the immense number or
native names which are often used by the non-native Spanish speaking
locals.
>
> * Historical isolation due to rugged geography and regional cultural
> differences has led to a proliferation of common names in Colombia.
> Different species with the same name; same species with different names
> (even within one small region due to immigration of people to the
> region from many other places in Col)., etc.
>
> If we want people to be concerned about their flora/fauna, they have to
> be able to name it and talk about it. Common English names, and Latin
> binomials, are not useful for the non-English-speaking concerned citizen.
> Peter

This is probably true, but I would like to make a point. In many remote
areas I have visited, the average local speaks more than one language. for
example in the area I visited recently in eastern Ecuador everyone spoke
spanish and most also spoke Quichua, in the Ivory Coast I found that the
average person I worked with spoke French, their local language or two and
Djoula the common market language. The interesting bit is that locals I
met that worked with scientists had no qualms about learning a new language
to name birds/animals/plants, learning a new language just wasn't such a
big deal. So when I would ask some of the locals what they had seen today
they would respond: a pair of Notocrax urumutum, lots of Tucanus cuvieri,
and a flock of Psarocolius viridis. They had an easier time learning these
names than I did. They also had no problem in keeping the binomals and teh
Quichua names straight, so if you asked them what Crypturellus undulatus
was in Quichua they didn't have to think about it much it was a pretty
quick response. Just some observations about people and names, perhaps
standardizing names is not all that necessary since we already have
the binomials which we can use for comparitive purpoises.
>
Al Jaramillo
jaramill at sfu.ca
Vancouver, B.C.