Peter et al.,

There is one attempt on record. Andres M. Sada, Allan R. Phillips, &
Mario A. Ramos, _Nombres en Castellano para las Aves Mexicanos_, INIREB,
Xalapa, Veracrus, Nol 17, 1987. These Spanish names were those used in
the Spanish edition of Peterson & Chalif's Mexican bird guide. In my
opinion they are a mixed bag, some likely to catch on, others not.

Gene Hunn.

On Fri, 13 Jan 1995, Peter Rauch wrote:

> 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?
>
> 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.
>
> 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 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.
>
> * 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
>