Editors, Vineyard Gazette;

I am puzzled about two bird names. First, I wonder why whoever oversees bird names saw fit to change the name of the slate colored junco, a name we’ve all grown up with and seems perfectly good to me, to “dark eyed junco.”

And then, why after all these years of living with the obvious and egregious misnomer of the “red-bellied” woodpecker there has been no call for suggestions from the public to choose a more appropriate name. After all, it borders on the unethical to have to tell a child, “that’s a red-bellied woodpecker,” when the child can see very well that its most prominent feature is the red nape.

Yes, you can point out that it (sometimes) has a tinge of pink at the base of the belly, but that hardly qualifies it as “red bellied.”

Many thanks if someone can clarify these puzzles.

Peter Luborsky

Phoenixville, Pa. and Chilmark