4 July 2023
Ever since we became a group of united states on 4 July 1776 we’ve grappled with the interplay of national versus state laws and culture. We even have national and state birds.
The bald eagle takes center stage today on the Fourth of July but our national bird is celebrated all year long. Meanwhile state birds are rarely mentioned. This map from VividMaps shows who they are, though Alaska’s willow ptarmigan and Hawaii’s nene are not pictured.
Many states have designated the same bird:
- 7 states chose northern cardinals from Illinois to North Carolina
- 6 states chose western meadowlarks from Oregon to Kansas
- 5 states chose northern mockingbirds from Texas to Tennessee to Florida.
Half the states have unique birds including:
- Pennsylvania: Ruffed grouse
- California: California quail
- Oklahoma: Scissor-tailed flycatcher
- Maryland: Baltimore oriole
- South Dakota: ring-necked pheasant (imported from Eurasia)
- … and 20 more states
Why isn’t the peregrine falcon pictured for Idaho? The peregrine is Idaho’s State Raptor. So there are more than 51 Birds of State in the U.S.
See the list of state birds here.
(photo from Wikimedia Commons, map embedded from VividMaps, click on the captions to see the originals)