Birders

[Nearfest2]

Yep. Apparently it's because they are not citizens of Canada. Seriously. This is the explanation I heard.

That's completely untrue. And birds aren't citizens. They're inhabitants.

"In 1758, the Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus included the Canada goose in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, which classified animals, plants, and minerals.

But Linnaeus, writing in Latin, didn’t use the term 'Canada goose' in the 10th edition. He referred to the bird as Anas canadensis, a protonym, or early version, of the now-accepted scientific name, Branta canadensis, or 'black goose of Canada.'"

So I'm wondering why the american robin is still called that. Is it a citizen? A bit trivial I suppose but interesting anyway how some get their names. I suppose most people just call it a robin.

From what I hear, there is a lot of politics that does into the naming and classification of birds. However, there is also a lot of science. Advancements in genetics has made ornithologist go back and reclassify birds. For example, observations of interbreeding between the Baltimore Oriole and the Bullock's Oriole led to both being classified as a single species, called the Northern Oriole from 1973-1995. Research later showed that the two birds actually did not interbreed significantly, so the Baltimore Oriole and Bullock's Oriole were both brought back into the taxonomy.