Birding is identifying birds, right? And what does identifying something imply? In simplest terms, it's assigning the correct name to that specific thing. And that's exactly where the problem comes in…
Catch any birder on a bad day and he or she will likely start grumbling about "name changes". I once witnessed an amusing argument between two birders of different generations. One had played with smartphones as a kid; the other with die-cast Dinky Toys.
From the back seat of the game-drive vehicle, I watched a grey-coloured raptor poking its double-jointed legs into crevices among some boulders.
"Gymnogene," the Baby Boomer exclaimed confidently. "Sorry Oom," said the Centennial. (Yes, even younger than a Millennial. - Ed.) "I think it's actually called an African harrier-hawk."
They were both right, of course. Some time during the last few decades, francolins evolved into spurfowl. Widowfinches morphed into indigobirds. Louries changed into turacos. Dikkops degraded to thick-knees.
There were colour changes: Grey phalarope is now red phalarope, for example, which makes sense in the northern hemisphere where the bird displays its rusty breeding plumage.
There were ownership changes, too - Stanley's bustard now belongs to Denham - and there were changes in geography, habitat, shape… You name it.
"Why Faansie, why?" I hear you cry. "What's the point of changing slender bulbul to tiny greenbul, or little banded goshawk to shikra, or Gunning's robin to East Coast akalat?
What was wrong with the jackass penguin, or the dabchick, or the melba finch?"If you ask an outraged birder when all this started, he or she will probably point a finger at the publication of the big Roberts VII tome in 2005.
But in truth, name changes started long before that. In the preface of my 1963 Roberts, the authors state: "…we have had to search for appropriate [names] amongst those in use with an eye to causing as little disturbance of current usage as possible."Back then it was Mashonaland flycatcher, which became Mashona hyliota, now southern hyliota.
Likewise, in 1963, it was grey tit babbler, which became fan-tailed flycatcher, now grey tit-flycatcher. One more: grey-backed bush warbler, grey-backed bleating warbler, grey-backed camaroptera.
It could be argued that some names were flawed from the beginning. The red-eyed dove might well have a red-tinged eye, but the African mourning dove has a diagnostic bright red ring around its eye.
Confusingly, in Afrikaans, a mourning dove is called a rooioogtortelduif. Go figure.
Also, a white-crowned plover (sorry, lapwing) has much longer and more conspicuous wattles than an African wattled lapwing. A rock pigeon is now a speckled pigeon, and something different to a rock dove, which used to be a feral pigeon. Seriously?
"But Faansie, why can't they just pick one name and stick to it?" Yes, yes. In many cases, name changes are required to reflect taxonomic changes, and the change is therefore a scientific prerogative.
Here's one example: Research has shown that what we called the long-billed lark is actually five separate species, each with its own name. In such a case, there will also be a change in the scientific name.
In fact, as a professional ornithologist, I have to keep up with all the changes in scientific nomenclature as well. And they're never-ending!Another reason is because the same species is often called by different names in different countries.
It's not really an issue if you're birding around here, but as soon as you travel overseas, things get really confusing. Why is our long-tailed shrike now a magpie shrike?
To avoid confusion with an Asian species, also called long-tailed shrike, of course. And don't forget about the long-tailed fiscal, native to East Africa…
To sort out this kind of mess, an international committee was formed to suggest a single global name for each species. This is no simple matter, and there are endless rules about things as seemingly trivial as hyphens and apostrophes.
Go and take a look for yourself: worldbirdnames.org.It's fascinating. My advice? Call the bird whatever you like. But don't expect names to stay the same forever. Names have always changed, and they'll continue to change.
If it gets too much, you can always switch to Afrikaans. As an endemic language (barring a few vagrant Afrikaners in Australia and Canada), Afrikaans names are less prone to amendments.
And you'll agree that many birds have lekker creative Afrikaans names anyway.
After all, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet - whether you're looking at a Pycnonotus tricolor, dark-capped bulbul, black-eyed bulbul, swartoogtiptol, toppie or bottergat!
