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North American birds will no longer be named after humans, the American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday.

Next year, the organization will begin renaming about 80 species found in the United States and Canada.

“There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that remain exclusionary and harmful today,” the organization’s president, Colleen Handel, said in a statement. “Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.”

The organization announced that instead of reviewing each bird bearing a person’s name individually, all of those birds will be renamed.

The birds to be renamed include those currently called Wilson’s warblers and Wilson’s snipe, both named after 19th-century naturalist Alexander Wilson. The cory’s shearling, a seabird named after John James Audubon, will also get a new name.

In 2020, the organization renamed the bird that Confederate Army Gen. John B. McCown once referred to as the long, thick-billed spur.

“I am very happy and excited about this announcement,” said Emily Williams, an ornithologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the decision.

He said that over the past few years there have been heated debates about bird names within bird watching communities.

“Naming birds after their habitat or appearance is one of the least problematic approaches,” he said.

Earlier this year, the National Audubon Society announced that it would keep its name, although critics and some voices within the organization argued that it should abandon its association with a man named John James Audubon, whose family owned slaves.

“The name has come to represent so much more than just the work of one person,” Susan Bell, president of the board of directors of the National Audubon Society, told the magazine. Audubon In March, he added: “We must keep in mind John James’ racist legacy.”

The 2020 rally in New York’s Central Park was a public wake-up call about the discrimination Black people sometimes face when trying to enjoy the outdoors.

Christian Cooper, a black birdwatcher, was searching for birds when he asked a white woman, Amy Cooper, to follow local rules and leash her dog. Cooper called 911 and was later charged with filing a false police report, although the charges were later dropped.

Soon after, a group of bird watchers organized the first Black Birders Week to increase the visibility of black scientists and nature lovers.

A group called Bird Names for Birds sent a petition to the Ornithological Society urging it to “develop a plan to change harmful common names” for birds.

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