# Do any two or more states use the same state birds, flowers etc., or they all unique? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917 "2009-01-19T01:32:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/1 "2009-01-19T01:32:33Z")
Just curious, do any states share trees, birds, flowers etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/2 "2009-01-19T01:33:45Z")
Well, more than one state shares a state drink - milk is popular. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/3 "2009-01-19T01:38:29Z")
[Here’s birds.](http://www.50states.com/bird/) [Here’s trees.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_trees) [Here’s flowers.](http://www.50states.com/flower.htm) All appear to have duplicates somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/4 "2009-01-19T02:17:51Z")
When I went to school in the 60’s and 70’s South Dakota was known as the Sunshine State. Whether or not they still are is beyond me. But that was/is a duplicate of Florida. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/5 "2009-01-19T02:21:33Z")
South Dakota nicknames: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Artesian State Blizzard State Coyote State Land of Infinite Variety **Mount Rushmore State (officially adopted in 1980 in place of the former nickname of Sunshine State)** Sunshine State [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/6 "2009-01-19T02:33:16Z")
When I was in grade school we got to vote for the State Tree of Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/7 "2009-01-19T03:45:15Z")
Birds are highly redundant, there being only 27 species represented for the 50 states. (It’s hard to tell exactly from the list linked to above, since they are listed only by common name - which is often not even the “official” common name used by ornithologists. For example, American Goldfinch _Spinus tristis_ is called both Eastern Goldfinch and Willow Goldfinch in the list.) The duplicated species: Northern Cardinal - 7 states Western Meadowlark - 6 (Oddly, no state selected Eastern Meadowlark) Northern Mockingbird - 5 American Robin - 3 Eastern Bluebird - 2 Mountain Bluebird - 2 Domestic Chicken - 2 (Blue Hen Chicken and Rhode Island Red) Besides the two states with domestic chicken breeds, South Dakota didn’t even pick a native species - Ring-necked Pheasant is introduced. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/8 "2009-01-19T03:48:44Z")
The sugar maple is the official tree for four states (Vermont, New York, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.) The last two make no sense, and only a little bit of sense for New York. I know that the Vermont state insect is the honey bee, and I wouldn’t be surprised if another state had it too. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/9 "2009-01-19T03:50:37Z")
I know all of you think of _ **Sea Gulls** _ when you think of Utah. (Just look on the Quarter) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/10 "2009-01-19T03:53:31Z")
Arkansas and New Hampshire share the White Tailed Deer as the State Animal. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/11 "2009-01-19T04:03:21Z")
Trees are not so bad, but there are still duplicates: Sugar Maple - 4 White Oak - 3 Cottonwood - 3 Tulip Tree - 3 American Elm - 2 Blue Spruce - 2 Eastern White Pine - 2 Flowering Dogwood - 2 Sabal Palmetto - 2 Mississippi and Iowa do not designate specific species, while California has two. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/12 "2009-01-19T04:07:35Z")
> [@chacoguy420](#): > > I know all of you think of _ **Sea Gulls** _ when you think of Utah. (Just look on the Quarter) :rolleyes: There are lots of gulls that breed on freshwater lakes inland. The Utah state bird is considered to be the [California Gull](http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/birds/ut_california_gull.htm), because it is reputed to have saved the crops of Mormon settlers in 1848 by devouring a plague of crickets. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/13 "2009-01-19T04:09:05Z")
California also has a state rock and a state mineral. San Francisco has an official song and an official ballad. We’s greedy out this way. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/14 "2009-01-19T05:11:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are lots of gulls that breed on freshwater lakes inland. The Utah state bird is considered to be the [California Gull](http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/birds/ut_california_gull.htm), because it is reputed to have saved the crops of Mormon settlers in 1848 by devouring a plague of crickets. Check your ignorance on that one. The locusts died because they got blown out over the Salt Lake. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/15 "2009-01-19T05:14:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are lots of gulls that breed on freshwater lakes inland. I was surprised to see some at a garbage dump in Little Rock, Arkansas. Seems they follow the Mississippi river. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/16 "2009-01-19T05:34:06Z")
> [@chacoguy420](#): > > Check your ignorance on that one. The locusts died because they got blown out over the Salt Lake. Bullshit. The insects that the gulls are alleged to have attacked in 1848 were not locusts, but [Mormon crickets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_cricket) (_Andabrus simplex)_, which are virtually wingless and cannot fly. So it’s impossible that that year they “died because they got blown out over the Salt Lake.” The Mormon accounts of the gulls wiping out the crickets may have been exaggerated in 1848. And in later years, such as 1855, some flocks of flying locusts (a different species) evidently flew or were blown into the Great Salt Lake and drowned. But that was not the case in 1848, the year the legend of the gulls originated. [http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah\_chapters/pioneers\_and\_cowboys/pestiferousironclads.html](http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/pestiferousironclads.html) ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/17 "2009-01-19T05:54:06Z")
Ignorance fought, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/18 "2009-01-19T06:57:19Z")
The official State Soil of North Carolina is the [Cecil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_(soil)). ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/19 "2009-01-19T08:40:10Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > The official State Soil of North Carolina is the [Cecil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_(soil)). And the state soil of Indiana is Miami, apparently. I’m impressed (if not a little bewildered) by the sheer variety of [State Symbols.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_state_symbols) Some of them, like flags, songs, mottos and so on, seem like natural accoutrements of a state; and it doesn’t seem at all out of the way that people might choose an animal of some sort, or a flower, to represent their home state. But what prompts a State Legislature to vote on the adoption of an official State Soil? Or dinosaur, or dessert? And what role do they play? Do the fine residents of New Jersey swell with civic pride at the sight of a Knobbed Whelk? ---
**Author:** ![Donovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donovan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917/20 "2009-01-19T08:58:51Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The sugar maple is the official tree for four states (Vermont, New York, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.) The last two make no sense, and only a little bit of sense for New York. Why does it make no sense? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-two-or-more-states-use-the-same-state-birds-flowers-etc-or-they-all-unique/481917.md?page=2)