California’s largest bird society, the Golden Gate Audubon Society, was renamed the Golden Gate Bird Alliance last night in an effort to sever its ties to John James Audubon, a 19th-century ornithologist who also has a documented history of racial discrimination and enslaving people.
“I think this is a great step forward for us, and a new chapter in our organizational history,” said Glenn Phillips, executive director of the newly christened Golden Gate Bird Alliance. According to Phillips, a large turnout of members attended Thursday’s annual membership meeting, and enthusiastic applause greeted the announcement of the new name.
The birders were thrilled to have a new name with no baggage, and to “very simply and clearly tell people who we are, what we do and why,” said Phillips.
Despite its significance to enthusiasts, Audubon sometimes seems too obscure to lay people, Phillips said. “People didn’t know who Audubon was, or what it was,” he said. To some, “Audubon” sounds like a made-up word. Others simply asked Phillips, “What does your group have to do with the German highway system?”
This is the second time the nonprofit has renamed itself. Founded in 1917 as the Audubon Association of the Pacific, the group first changed its name to the Golden Gate Audubon Society in 1949 because the original name was too broad and wordy.
The Berkeley-based society currently has about 3,500 members, primarily from the nine Bay Area counties, most of whom live in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.
“We have some diversity in our membership. It’s not all white, but it is more white than our community,” said Phillips. “That’s one of the reasons why this name change is really important, is so that we can better represent the communities we serve.” The organization is also working to be more welcoming and inclusive in other ways, including the Birding for Everyone Scholarship program, which aims to nurture younger, more diverse conservation leaders.
Philips said the average age of members hasn’t changed much over the past 50 years, and it “is not especially young.” He also noted that more people began to care about birds after the pandemic, as people began to notice the birds that inhabit their own backyards. But since bird conservation requires free time and money, most newcomers are still in their fifties.
As of Friday afternoon, the organization has already replaced its logo with a new one; everything else remains the same, but replacing everything on the website that mentions Audubon will take some time.
As a member of the National Audubon Society, which announced it would keep its name unchanged in March, what the Golden Gate Bird Alliance has just gone through is part of a nationwide shift.
According to Phillips, about 80 of the more than 400 local chapters of the national association are actively changing their names — some are just too small and lack the resources to complete the process — including New York City Audubon, Madison Audubon, and Portland Audubon. He predicted that, within the next few months, many of these chapters would follow the path of the Golden Gate Bird Alliance and become some version of bird alliance.
The Seattle Audubon announced its new name, Birds Connect Seattle, in March.
San Diego Audubon, Georgia Audubon and Alabama Audubon are still exploring whether they will drop the Audubon name.
A significant number of Audubon societies in California will be changing their names soon, according to Phillips. Still, the Los Angeles Audubon Society, one of the more outspoken societies, has decided to stick with the current name because they believe Audubon’s brand recognition was more valuable than its negative associations, Phillips said.
Great! Ignore one of the greatest scientists because of what was done 200 hundred years ago and be so ignorant of what was the norm then, however wrong it was. They ignore history and science, and even the heritage of their own society by trying to be woke. What a shame their own genealogy won’t be checked to see what their past reveals. It’s just so useless. What next? Renaming birds with racially suggested Latin names?
Yes. That is exactly what is next. Birds named after racists, and named racist names, are being renamed. Its already happening. And that’s a really good thing. It is grossly disingenuous to pretend that John James Audubon is being ignored when he has hundreds if not thousands of things named after him and we continue to use his work. I for one feel much more comfortable knowing that the group I’m a member of cares enough about our namesake’s racist past to change the name. And this is just the local, the national is not changing their name, to my knowledge. Are you a member? Are you even a birder? It is precisely because we are NOT ignoring history and science that we understand it is already beyond time to reckon with our racist history, and make what strides we can to rectify the ONGOING ramifications of those historical policies. No one is ignoring or rewriting the past. We are refusing to continue honoring people who’s legacies should have reflected the whole truth to begin with, not just the parts you like. We are saying you can be the greatest ornithologist in history (he wasn’t), and its not enough to brush your slave owning, indigenous grave desecrating, white supremacist actions under the rug. We are saying history matters and we don’t honor slave owners. I guess at this point you should ask yourself why you do.
On another note I want to challenge you to find a phrase other than “woke” to describe things you don’t like. Be specific. It’s easier to hide behind a tired catchall than it is to express yourself, especially if the opinions you are expressing are popularly considered outdated, harmful, or racist.
Great, then can dispense with the white supremacy while they’re tryna spot a nesting pair of boobies, blue footed, red footed or masked.
England should change its name cuz of Protestant Ascendency.