SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The saying the early bird gets the worm is true in many ways for avid bird watcher Marcellus Wakefield.

On Monday along the American River, he’s rewarded with a great view of a great blue heron.

“Usually they’re not this animated,” said Wakefield, watching the heron preen itself.

Wakefield has been a birder for several years but still considers himself a beginner. Knowing and naming each bird is part of the hobby and Wakefield said he has decent knowledge of birds across the country.

Soon though Marcellus will be updating many bird names he’s learned, including numerous ones found in California such as Stellar’s Jay, named after a German biologist.

The American Ornithological Society, which oversees the English names in the Americas, has decided to do away with all bird names associated with people. The change was sparked by the controversial history of some of those people, Avian Ecologist Emily Williams said.

“So, there’s a couple of different species of birds that are named after this guy named Townsend, who robbed the graves of Native Americans to basically try to use phrenology, which we know is bunk science,” Williams said.

Rather than a drawn-out process of looking at each individual name, Williams said the society did away with all names and will begin to do so next year to around 80 birds. The names, she said, will be more practical for birders.

“The bird will be more aptly named to the habitat it exists in or something about how it looks like,” Williams said. “So, for example, currently there’s the black and white warbler, and as you may guess, it’s black and white.”

Hearing of the change and the reasoning behind it, Wakefield said he’s still not convinced it should be every bird associated with a person.

“I think if you’re just going for getting rid of racist undertones, maybe go for the specific birds themselves rather than try and wipe the whole slate clean as if it didn’t happen,” he said.

There are 152 bird names associated with people and even though Wakefield will have some new memorizing to do in the future, he said he’s just as excited about birding and his next big spotting trip.

“Looking froward to seeing the California Condor in the Pinnacles this year,” Wakefield said.

A sighting, he said, that will be the pinnacle of his birding experiences so far.