# Are You Happy With Your State Bird **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664 "2009-06-04T05:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/21 "2009-06-04T13:11:10Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Here’s a list of [State Birds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_birds). Are you happy with your state bird? Do you think it represents your state well? > > I live in Illinois and I think the cardinal is a poor choice. I think I’ve seen maybe 10 cardinals in my entire life. I realize Illinois is big and maybe they all live downstate but everywhere in Illinois I see, blackbirds, robins, wrens, grackles and I even see more Canada Geese than cardinals. The cardinal is Ohio’s state bird too, and I like it. We are not overrun with cardinals, but I see them often enough, at least several a week. They are very pretty, especially in the winter when the red is a relief from all that snow. Plus, it’s a nice counterpart to our State Flower, the scarlet carnation, which has a nice story behind it (that could be another thread!) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/22 "2009-06-04T13:14:25Z")
While I’m not from Minnesota, I’d just like to point out that their state bird is the common loon. So \*that’s \*why they keep electing Michele Bachmann. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/23 "2009-06-04T13:26:03Z")
I have a friend from Minnesota who claims that the state bird is the mosquito. I look at the California Quail and think . . . just how happy am I supposed to be about a state bird? It doesn’t embarass me and I think that’s about as much as I can expect. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/24 "2009-06-04T13:27:17Z")
West Virginia is another cardinal state, and I guess it’s OK as the state bird - there are plenty of them here and it’s a pretty bird - but I wish we had something more original. Nobody has the blue jay, we should have gone for that one. It’s kind of odd that we have a license plate with the rose-breasted grosbeak on it. I guess someone decided it was prettier than our state bird, and Virginia already has a license plate with a cardinal. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/25 "2009-06-04T13:28:45Z")
Minnesota is the **Common Loon**. Very fitting after getting to know a lot of the locals since I moved here. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/26 "2009-06-04T13:32:16Z")
Another Floridian checking in. I’m okay with the mocking bird; as mentioned they do make a lovely sound and there certainly are a lot of them. Seems the common loon would be a more appropriate chocie though. Lot’s of looniness in Florida (not to mention common). ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/27 "2009-06-04T13:40:03Z")
Another mockingbird state here (Texas), and I’m not happy with it. They can be annoying and are kinda plain. Some alternates I’d like to see considered: The Whooping Crane, the Rio Grande Wild Turkey, the blue jay, the cattle egret. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/28 "2009-06-04T13:47:06Z")
I’m in Maine and our state bird is the black-capped chickadee. I an neither happy nor unhappy with that, for I wouldn’t care if our state bird was the purple-dicked baby-snatcher. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/29 "2009-06-04T13:52:26Z")
In the eighteen years I’ve lived in New Hamsphire, I’ve seen a purple finch once. And while I see black-capped chickadees here all the time, those are not the kind I ever saw in Massachusetts, just boreal. So no, I don’t think state birds are well-chosen. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/30 "2009-06-04T13:54:57Z")
I’m ok with the quail but I think it would have been cooler if California had chosen to go with the condor. At least until they go extinct but then we’d get to change our state bird occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/31 "2009-06-04T14:00:24Z")
My state bird is a matter of passionate indifference to me. IIRC, the bluebird is hard to find in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/32 "2009-06-04T14:02:25Z")
Nothing against the Eastern Bluebird, but it’s a little boring. The New York State bird should be the pigeon. Other than the swallows of Capistrano, is there a stronger association between a city and a bird (at least in the U.S.) than New York City and pigeons? Pigeons are ugly and dirty, sure, but they have character. I think it’s great that a mere single bird was not enough for several states. I counted five with two state birds, and that’s not counting South Carolina, which apparently ditched the Northern Mockingbird for the Carolina Wren, perhaps because they wanted to remind everybody that they’re one of only _two_ Carolinas, and that they’re not too keen on Yankee birds. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/33 "2009-06-04T14:07:09Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > While I’m not from Minnesota, I’d just like to point out that their state bird is the common loon. > > So \*that’s \*why they keep electing Michele Bachmann. Don’t knock the loon! The best part is they’re all over the frickin’ place. I’m from California, and yes, the quail is stupid, but more importantly, has anyone ever seen a quail? Where do they all hang out? ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/34 "2009-06-04T14:14:40Z")
Yeah - I like the Brown Thrasher as our state bird. I see them frequently enough in my back yard, thrashing around under the shrubbery for food. And no other state has appropriated it as its bird. (Jeez, enough with the Northern Cardinals!) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/35 "2009-06-04T14:45:32Z")
Ruffed Grouse for the win! Unique among state birds (no other state has it) and tell me this isn’t [badass](http://i1.treknature.com/photos/1775/dscn0016.gelinote_huppe2.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/36 "2009-06-04T14:56:03Z")
Florida’s is apparently the Northern Mockingbird, which doesn’t make much sense to me. Where the hell are the Southern Mockingbirds? Argentina? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/37 "2009-06-04T15:06:46Z")
Delaware Blue Hen Chicken… Famously aggressive fighting gamecocks, associated with a regiment of equally aggressive Revolutionary War soldiers. Yeah, I can live with that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/38 "2009-06-04T15:20:43Z")
Another Ohioan here. I don’t mind the cardinal, either - it’s one of the more colorful birds around here, after all, and they look good against the winter snow. I just wish we didn’t have to share it with so many other states. Hmmm. Bald eagles have made an amazing comeback in the state in recent years, and it might be kind of cool to share a state bird with the nation itself. I see peregrine falcons from time to time around here, too, and they’re awesome birds. Ohio has a ridiculous number of “official state” this and that, including fossil (trilobite), drink (tomato juice, ick), and insect (ladybug). ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/39 "2009-06-04T16:02:41Z")
What’s up with states that have two state birds? What sort of pervy, communistic, state birding needs can a state have where one bird alone can’t satisfy them? I’m in OH. I like Cardinals and see them all the time but our state bird really ought to be the [Turkey Vulture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_vulture) or the Hinckley Buzzard as he’s known locally. > **[Hinckley Township, Medina County, Ohio | Buzzards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinckley_Township,_Medina_County,_Ohio#Buzzards)** > > The township became known across Ohio and the United States as the home of the buzzards. On March 15 of every year, buzzards arrive in large flocks at the town, as if on a very exact biological clock. The town began celebrating the arrival of the birds in 1957, and today as many as 50,000 visitors visit the Hinckley Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks in the town annually on "Buzzard Day" to witness the return of the avian residents. The event is used to mark the beginning of spring for Hinck... ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664/40 "2009-06-04T16:04:35Z")
And official state rock song (Hang On Sloopy)! And official gemstone (flint!) State mammal (white-tailed deer!) Official prehistoric monument (Newark Earthworks – take\* that\*, Serpent Mound!) State reptile, state wildflower. There was some back-and-forth bitching about a state fish for a while but I don’t think they ever settled on one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-with-your-state-bird/498664.md?page=3)