09 January 2006

Give 'em the Bird

Joy in Indiana asked: How do state birds get assigned?

Thank you for the question, Joy. Such things occur today when a person in a state proposes a bill to name the Black-Eyed Susan the State Flower (Maryland), the Badger the State Animal (Wisconsin), or the Cardinal the State Bird (Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia -- and Kentucky, which named it first, in 1926).

Such bills go through the usual steps of being written, reviewed, discussed, voted on, etc., before being signed into law creating a state's official butterfly, drink, fossil, fish, fruit, rock, mineral, tree, song -- even silverware pattern.


There is a very interesting web site that lists all the official symbols by state and by symbol.

Can you name either the bird or state represented by this photograph?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sweet. Thanks Christopher. And, ps... I have no clue what the bird/state answer is. Eek! Guess I won't be a member of the Audubon society anytime soon.