Ostrich, Southern Ostrich or Common Ostrich? The ‘eternal vexed question’ of English bird names and name changes in southern Africa through eight editions of Roberts field guides, 1940–2016

Abstract

A set of stable simple common bird names helps non-ornithologist birders, who contribute to conservation by visiting protected areas and participating in citizen science projects. Changes in English bird names have caused discomfort in the local birding community, especially those that followed international standardisation of common bird names between 2000 and 2005. To understand the extent and nature of English bird name changes, an analysis was done of all southern African bird names through the eight editions of Roberts Birds of South/Southern Africa field guides published from 1940 to 2016. Of 813 species listed in both the first and the latest of the field guides, 453 (55.7%) had their names changed, among which 108 (13.3%) had changes in both the group name and the species epithet. The greatest single wave of changes (31.4%) occurred in the first ‘Roberts bird guide’ (the seventh field guide) in 2007, following international standardisation. Mean word and syllable counts of bird names also increased significantly in that edition. Name changes were associated with new authorships, taxonomic changes and use of geographic species epithets. There was a trend towards name stability for southern African endemic species. Further name changes should be kept to a minimum, shortening and simplifying wherever possible.