From: Graeme Backhurst <graeme.backhurst@gmail.com>
Date: 2016-12-11 10:39
Subject: Re: [KENYABIRDSNET] terns
Hello everyone,

Gosh!, What a lot of words sparked by my mail of 5 December!

When I wrote in I was simply giving the English name that had been applied to this bird since at least 2008 in four lists — one of which, the IOC World List — purports to be the standard world list of English names.

In no way was I condoning the name!

There is, however, a serious point behind this, and that is the wisdom (or necessity) of having lists of “official” English names. I leave that to others to debate.

Best wishes,

Graeme

What I wrote:
". . . but note that this bird has been called just White-winged Tern for quite a while and is so called in the 4th ed of the Kenya Checklist (2008), the IOC World List v. 6.4 (2016), Howard & Moore 4 (2013) and by del Hoyo & Collar (2014).”



On 10 Dec 2016, at 22:54, FISHER DAVID d.j.fisher@ntlworld.com [kenyabirdsnet] <kenyabirdsnet-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Hi Brian,

I agree 100% - White-winged Tern is an abomination and I will never use it! 

I gather that the reason it was changed is that if you have a 'White-winged
Black Tern' then you have to qualify 'Black Tern' with something - 'Common Black
Tern' perhaps, or 'Black-winged Black Tern' but I have never followed the logic
of that. It seems perfectly clear to me that you can have a 'Black Tern' and a
'White-winged Black Tern' without there being any confusion.

I'm forwarding this to Nigel Redman so he can raise it with the IOC team.

Best wishes,

David

> On 08 December 2016 at 09:48 "Brian Finch birdfinch@gmail.com [kenyabirdsnet]"
> <kenyabirdsnet-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Dear All,
> Just a few comments on the naming of White-winged Tern.
> 
> When a bird changes its common name to something novel, then it should
> be for an improvement in the name that corrects something that was
> misleading in the original. Forget atrocities like Spotted Palm Thrush
> for which the majority from hatching to falling off their perches will
> never ever even see a palm. That was a stupid change if ever there was
> one, but I want to go back to the terns.
> 
> Since time immemorial Chlidonias leucopterus has been called
> White-winged Black Tern, it is in fact the worlds only black tern with
> white wings, a perfectly good name you would think. If you out there
> had discovered this bird in its breeding plumage as new to science, I
> am sure you would have called it White-winged Black Tern. Let’s face
> it, 90% of the worlds tern species differ in having whitish
> flight-feathers i.e. they have white wings. So what inane individual
> (come on whoever you are own up!), thought it would be an improvement
> to remove a name that described a completely unique feature, for a
> name that could equally befit 90% of all the world’s terns. It’s sheer
> idiocy and I for one will never support the name White-winged Tern for
> the species.
> So it may be listed in four major checklists of the world’s birds, but
> it is not these checklists that dictate common usage, it’s the
> field-guides to the regional birds that will determine what the local
> birding population will be calling their birds.
> 
> The recently published “Britain’s Birds” has to be the most incredible
> field-guide for any country I have ever seen and it will be the most
> used in Britain for very many years to come. So I looked up Chlidonias
> leucopterus and there it was White-winged Black Tern, and so it will
> be for all who follow this book. I have attached the relevant double
> spread so you can appreciate it for yourselves and also appreciate
> what a fine volume this is.
> 
> Personally I think the name of White-winged Tern is going to be short
> lived, let’s start the revolt!!!
> 
> Best to all
> Brian