Tag Archives: birds

How ignoring Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) set modern ornithology back a hundred years

This is a re-post from my other blog, The Cottonwood Post, which is focused on birds, birding, and environmental issues. Here I review a new book about the history of American ornithology — and all the stuff the early colonizers … Continue reading

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Indigenous bird names today

As the American Ornithological Society (AOS) contemplates changing potentially dozens of English bird names to names more representative of the bird, and more inclusive of our society, many have voiced interest in and support of indigenous bird names. This post … Continue reading

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A reverse land acknowledgment: Place names honor ethnic cleansing and slavery

I live in Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Washington. It was originally called qatáy by the S’Klallam, a place with a small lagoon and a series of freshwater ponds that allowed for kayak portages from Puget Sound to the Strait of Juan … Continue reading

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Decolonizing bird names: Effort reveals fault lines among birders

A revolution is about to sweep the world of birders and ornithologists. After decades of intransigence, the most prominent organizations and authors – including prominent field guide authors David Sibley and Kenn Kaufmann – are endorsing “bird names for birds”, … Continue reading

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Sitting on 700: The short story of my lifelist

Sometime long ago when I started birding, when I was seven, I read that the ultimate lifetime goal for birders in the US was to see 700 species in North America. For birders, “North America” was defined by the American … Continue reading

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Trump guts Migratory Bird Treaty Act

Years ago, Chevron came out with a series of commercials showing them going out of their way to protect wildlife and the environment. These ads would invariably conclude with a question like, “Do people stop work on an oil pipeline … Continue reading

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Solar arrays in the desert: Killing more birds than you imagine

In the past three years there has been a stunning and seemingly reckless increase in solar farms in California.  Before 2013, solar farms covered four square miles of land.  They now cover nearly 60 square miles and more are planned.  … Continue reading

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