Long-tailed Duck

Clangula hyemalis

Known as the 'oldsquaw' until 2000, when it was renamed out of cultural sensitivity.* The new name is simply for the male's long, thin tail, and its scientific name, Clangula hyemalis, means 'the little resounder of winter.' *Sensitive matter follows: the old name is usually traced to its constant, noisy chatter, which early observers are said to have compared to the talk of old Native American women.

Clangula is a diminutive from the Latin clangere, 'to resound'; hyemalis means 'of winter.' 'Squaw' originally meant 'young woman' in Massachusett and related Algonquian languages.