99 Fun Facts About State Birds

Which bird is the official state bird of Hawaii?

The nene, or Hawaiian goose, rarely swims: its feet are only half-webbed, with long toes, because it evolved to walk on rough lava rather than paddle.

Which bird has been New Mexico's official state bird since 1949?

The greater roadrunner can fly but rarely bothers: it spends most of its life on the ground, sprinting after lizards, scorpions and tarantulas.

Which state chose the scissor-tailed flycatcher as its state bird in 1951?

Oklahoma sits at the heart of the scissortail's nesting range, and like its kingbird cousins the bird will fearlessly attack much larger birds that stray near its nest.

Minnesota's state bird, adopted in 1961, is which water bird?

The common loon's legs sit so far back on its body that it is clumsy on land, but the same build makes it a powerful underwater swimmer that chases down fish.

Which state adopted the eastern brown pelican as its state bird in 1966?

Louisiana's pelicans vanished from the state in the 1960s, poisoned by pesticides, so wildlife officials restocked the coast with young birds brought from Florida.

Which bird became Utah's state bird after being credited with saving Mormon settlers' crops from crickets in 1848?

The California gull nests around inland lakes such as the Great Salt Lake, and Salt Lake City's Seagull Monument honours the flocks said to have eaten the crickets.

Delaware's official state bird is which domestic animal?

The Blue Hen Chicken recalls a Revolutionary War company from Delaware, said to have carried fighting gamecocks bred from a famous blue hen.

Which state's official bird is a red-feathered breed of domestic chicken?

Rhode Island's Red owes its deep colour to Malay fowl that New England farmers crossed with other breeds in the late 1800s, creating one of America's best-known chickens.

Arizona's state bird, adopted in 1931, is which species?

The cactus wren builds its bulky nests among the spines of cholla cactus, where few predators dare follow, and it even sleeps in them outside the breeding season.

Which group's statewide vote chose Illinois's state bird before lawmakers made it official in 1929?

Schoolchildren had already voted in Illinois's state flower and tree in 1907, and later ballots let them pick the state animal and the state fish as well.

South Dakota's state bird is which introduced game species?

The ring-necked pheasant was brought from Asia as a game bird and, unlike most pheasants, which are shy forest birds, it took to open farmland and thrived on South Dakota's prairies.

Which state's official bird is the willow ptarmigan?

Alaska's ptarmigan grows feathers right to the tips of its toes each winter, and the wider feet work like snowshoes, letting it walk over fresh drifts.

Colorado's state bird is which prairie songbird?

The lark bunting male is black with white wing patches only for the breeding season, when he flutters up from the prairie to sing; by winter he is streaky brown like the female.

Which state's official bird is the brown thrasher?

Georgia's governor proclaimed the thrasher state bird in 1935, but lawmakers took until 1970 to make it official; Atlanta's NHL team later played as the Thrashers.

Which pro sports team is named after Maryland's state bird?

The Orioles took their name from the Baltimore oriole, a bird itself named because the male's orange and black matched the heraldic colours of Lord Baltimore.

Which woodland songbird is Vermont's official state bird?

The hermit thrush has a flute-like song so admired that Walt Whitman made the bird a voice of mourning in his elegy for Abraham Lincoln.

New Hampshire's state bird, adopted in 1957, is which species?

The purple finch is not really purple: the male is closer to raspberry red or old rose, while the streaky brown female shows no red at all.

Alabama's state bird, the yellowhammer, is a local name for which woodpecker?

The northern flicker breaks woodpecker habits by feeding mostly on the ground, where it digs up ants, and eastern birds flash bright yellow under their wings and tail in flight.

Idaho and Nevada share which state bird?

The mountain bluebird hunts by hovering low over open ground before dropping onto insects, and it will nest in cliff holes or dirt banks when tree hollows are scarce.

Missouri and New York share which state bird?

The eastern bluebird declined sharply through the mid-1900s, then recovered as volunteers set out nest boxes along 'bluebird trails'; many now raise their young in birdhouses.

Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming all claim which bird?

The western meadowlark was noted by Lewis and Clark yet went undescribed for decades, so Audubon named it neglecta, the overlooked one; it is told from its eastern lookalike by song.

Iowa, New Jersey and Washington share which small yellow state bird?

The American goldfinch is 'eastern goldfinch' in Iowa's and New Jersey's laws and 'willow goldfinch' in Washington's; it nests late, in midsummer, when the seeds it feeds its young are most plentiful.

Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin share which familiar backyard bird?

The American robin is among the first birds to sing each morning, often starting before first light, and it readily nests on porches and windowsills.

Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee share which state bird?

The northern mockingbird weaves other birds' songs into its own, and it defends its nest boldly, diving at cats and even people who come too close.

The ko'ko', a flightless rail, is the official bird of which US territory?

Guam's ko'ko' vanished from the wild in the 1980s, but zoo-bred birds released on the nearby islands of Rota and Cocos have since founded new wild populations.

Which songbird is the official bird of the District of Columbia?

The wood thrush sings a flute-like song in eastern woods and even city parks, but its numbers have fallen so far that it has become a symbol of vanishing migratory songbirds.

Which territory's official bird is the bananaquit?

The US Virgin Islands' bananaquit lives on nectar but, unlike a hummingbird, cannot hover, so it clings to flowering trees and probes the blossoms while perched.

Which invasive predator, a stowaway after World War II, wiped out most of Guam's native forest birds?

The brown tree snake reached an island whose birds had evolved without snake predators, so they had no defences: within decades most native forest species had vanished, the island's official bird among them.

Which state's only bird emblem is titled its state game bird?

Pennsylvania's 1931 law adopts a 'State game bird' and no plain state bird has ever followed, though the state's Game Commission still calls that bird the official state bird.

Which bird has been one state's only bird emblem, titled its state game bird, since 1931?

The ruffed grouse male 'drums' without using his voice or striking anything: standing on a log, he beats the air with his wings so fast that it thumps.

The willow ptarmigan, one northern state's official bird, changes in which way each winter?

It turns white: the ptarmigan swaps summer's mottled brown for snow-coloured feathers, so it stays camouflaged in every season.

Which bird is the official bird of seven states?

The northern cardinal neither migrates nor moults into duller feathers, so the male stays red through the winter, and the species has been spreading north for decades.

Which women's organization campaigned in the 1920s for states to name official birds?

The General Federation of Women's Clubs pushed states to pick birds and flowers alike, and Alabama, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming all named their birds in 1927.

Which of these states permits hunting of its own state bird?

California's state bird is a quail, a plump ground-dwelling game bird, so unlike the songbird symbols of most states it can be hunted in season at home.

In 2017 Oregon named which fish-hunting bird its official state raptor?

The osprey hovers over the water, plunges in feet first to grab a fish, then flies off carrying its catch head-forward in its talons.

Idaho designated which bird its state raptor in 2004?

The peregrine falcon was nearly wiped out by the pesticide DDT; breeders at the Peregrine Fund's centre in Boise helped bring it back, and it now appears on Idaho's quarter.

New Hampshire's state raptor, named in 2019, is which species?

The red-tailed hawk needed two tries: lawmakers voted down the pupils who first proposed it, and the students returned a few years later to see it pass.

Wisconsin named which bird its state symbol of peace in 1971?

The mourning dove's peace title is only symbolic: Wisconsin also runs a hunting season for the species, which can raise up to six broods a year to keep its numbers up.

Mississippi's official state waterfowl, named in 1974, is which species?

The wood duck nests in tree holes, so day-old ducklings must leap out, sometimes from fifty feet up, and land unhurt before following their mother to water.

Alabama and Massachusetts both designated which bird as their state game bird?

The wild turkey looks earthbound, yet it is a strong, fast flier when it must be, and at dusk it flaps up to spend the night roosting high in trees.

Missouri and Tennessee share which state game bird?

The bobwhite quail lives in coveys of a dozen or more through autumn and winter, and the birds roost together on the ground in a circle, tails in and heads out.

Which state replaced its first state bird in 1948 with a wren bearing its name?

South Carolina's 1948 act installed the wren and, in the same breath, made it a misdemeanor to kill either the new state bird or the one it had just deposed.

Maine's state bird is listed simply as which bird, with no species specified?

Chickadee is all the law says: 'The state bird shall be the chickadee.' A 2019 bill asked lawmakers to choose between Maine's black-capped and boreal species, and they left the wording as it was.

In 2025 Delaware named the red knot as its state what?

Migratory bird suits the red knot: each spring it stops on Delaware Bay to feast on horseshoe crab eggs, refuelling for a flight that can run from South America to the Arctic.

Which bird is displayed on American Samoa's flag?

The bald eagle stands for the protection of the United States, and it clutches two emblems of Samoan chiefs: a war club for power and a fly whisk for the wisdom of the councils.

The brown pelican, one southern state's official bird, catches fish in which way?

Plunge-diving from the air is the brown pelican's trademark: it spots fish from above, then crashes bill-first into the water, often vanishing below the surface for a moment.

Which of these states has a state bird that no other state shares?

Maryland has its bird to itself, whereas more than half of the states share theirs with at least one other, because so many chose the same few familiar backyard songbirds.

Campaigners have urged Michigan to swap its state bird for which rare songbird that nests almost entirely in that state?

Kirtland's warbler nests only in stands of young jack pine, nearly all of them in Michigan, and burning and replanting that habitat pulled it back from the edge of extinction.

Which bird has been passed over by every state when choosing a state bird?

The blue jay has never been made official by any state, district or territory, yet across the border Prince Edward Island made it its provincial bird.

New Mexico's state bird, a hunter of scorpions and young rattlesnakes, belongs to which bird family?

Cuckoos rarely look like this one: New Mexico's bird is the biggest of the family in the Americas and spends most of its life on foot, though it can fly.

Hawaii's state bird evolved from which North American waterfowl that reached the islands about 500,000 years ago?

Canada goose ancestors most likely landed soon after the island of Hawaii formed, and their descendants became a species found nowhere else on Earth.

Which president kept the songbird that is now the state bird of Texas in his study and named it Dick?

Thomas Jefferson often let Dick out to roam the room, where the bird would sit on his shoulder as he worked and take food from between his lips.

The calls of Minnesota's state bird feature prominently in which Oscar-winning 1981 film?

On Golden Pond begins with an elderly couple arriving at the lake to the birds' calls, and it won Oscars for both Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn.

Alabama's 'Yellowhammer State' nickname began with yellow-trimmed cavalry uniforms worn in which conflict?

American Civil War cavalrymen from Huntsville arrived with yellow trim on their sleeves, collars and coat-tails, and the bird's name soon stuck to all Alabama troops.

Which president created the first national wildlife refuge in 1903 to protect brown pelicans in Florida?

Theodore Roosevelt signed the order for Pelican Island after plume hunters, supplying the trade in ladies' hats, had pushed its birds toward extinction.

The red knot crowds Delaware Bay beaches to feast on the eggs of which ancient sea creature?

Horseshoe crab eggs are a rich, easily digested meal for the birds, and when the crabs were overharvested for bait in the 1990s, red knot numbers fell steeply.

The tiny state bird of Massachusetts enlarges part of which organ during its seed-hiding season?

Brain tissue in its hippocampus, the memory centre, grows during the seed-hiding season, and the bird can find a cache as much as 28 days later.

A 1982 sheet of 50 US postage stamps paired every state's official bird with which other state symbol?

Its flower: every stamp showed a state's bird and bloom together, with Arthur Singer painting the birds and his son Alan the flowers.

Genetic studies trace South Dakota's state bird, an introduced game species, back to the forests of which country?

China's southeastern forests are the species' likely cradle, and the first big American release to succeed came in 1881 in the Willamette Valley.

Minnesota's state bird is also the official bird of which Canadian province along Minnesota's northern border?

Ontario shares more than the emblem: the same bird swims across the country's one-dollar coin and gives that coin its everyday nickname.

Hawaii's state bird has only partly webbed feet, an adaptation for walking across which rugged terrain?

Lava flows cooled into rough rock cover much of its volcanic home, so the webbing has shrunk well back on each foot, and the bird ranges from sea level up to about 2,400 metres.

Which poet made Vermont's state bird a symbol of the American voice in an elegy for Abraham Lincoln?

Walt Whitman's lilac elegy is counted among the fundamental texts of American literature, and T. S. Eliot later put the same bird in The Waste Land.

Missouri's state bird has been helped since 1934 by roadside 'trails' made up of rows of what?

Birdhouses were first set out in rows along roads by a naturalist named Musselman, and after a long slump that began in 1938 the species recovered late in the century.

During courtship, the male of Ohio's state bird bonds with his mate through which gesture?

Feeding her beak-to-beak is his courtship gift, and mated pairs sometimes sing together before nesting, since the female is a singer too.

Virginia's state bird was once widely sold for which purpose, until a 1918 federal law banned the trade?

Caged pet buyers prized the male's bright colour and clear whistle, until the 1918 law that still protects most native birds outlawed the trade.

The pesticide DDT nearly wiped out the brown pelican, one state's official bird, by doing what to its eggs?

Thinned the shells so badly that embryos could not survive; the bird spent 1970 to 2009 on the federal endangered species list.

Which name did New Orleans's NBA team give up in 2013 to rename itself after its home state's bird?

Hornets was a name the franchise brought from Charlotte in 2002; once New Orleans became the Pelicans, Charlotte's team took it back.

Vermont's lawmakers argued before naming their state bird in 1941 because the bird does what every winter?

Heads south for the cold months, so it is no year-round Vermonter, yet it is found in all 14 counties and its sweet call carried the debate.

The yellowhammer, Alabama's state bird, hammers at the soil for which insects, almost half its diet?

Ants can make up 45% of its menu, and it also uses them when preening, since their formic acid helps keep parasites down.

Which naturalist named the state bird of Nebraska and Wyoming 'neglecta' in 1844 because it had been overlooked?

John James Audubon chose the Latin for 'overlooked' because Lewis and Clark's expedition had mentioned the bird four decades earlier, yet nobody had formally described it.

Montana's state bird weaves a grass roof over its nest, which it builds in which spot?

On the ground in open grassland, the female hides a nest under a roof of woven grass, which is why hay mowing can destroy eggs and young.

A 2009 study found that the state bird of Florida and Tennessee can do what after a person threatens its nest?

Recognize the intruder: the birds later turned defensive toward the one person who had approached their nest while ignoring everyone else who walked past.

Arizona's state bird can live without ever drinking because it gets almost all its water from where?

What it eats, mostly insects plus some fruit, supplies nearly all its water, so the desert bird can survive with no free-standing water at all.

Nevada's state bird often catches insects by doing what in mid-air over open country before dropping on them?

Hovering low and then dropping onto prey is its trademark, though it will also dart out from a perch to snatch an insect.

Which predator, shipped to Hawaii's plantations to hunt rats, helped cut the state bird to 30 birds by 1952?

Mongoose hunters turned on native birds that had evolved without any mammal predators, and they went on to raid sea turtle nests for eggs too.

The bananaquit, one US territory's official bird, gets its common nickname from a fondness for bowls of what?

Sugar set out in bowls or feeders brings the tame little nectar-drinker into gardens, hence 'sugar bird'; unlike a hummingbird, it has to perch to feed.

Michigan's state bird sometimes staggers and falls over while walking after gorging on what?

Fermented berries, especially firethorn, leave whole flocks visibly tipsy; fruit is about 60 percent of the bird's diet and lets it winter far to the north.

Unlike most flying birds, Minnesota's state bird has bones that are what?

Solid bones, a trait shared with penguins, make it heavy enough to sink easily, whereas most birds have air-filled bones that save weight for flight.

The flag of the 'Pelican State' shows a mother pelican nourishing her young with what?

Drops of blood, three of them by a 2006 law, reflect a medieval belief that pelicans wounded their own breasts to keep starving young alive.

Wisconsin's state bird topped a 2019 tally of North America's land birds for which distinction?

Most abundant, at an estimated 370 million birds, it outnumbered even the introduced European starling in the Partners in Flight count.

Arizona's state bird weaves a pouch-like nest about the size and shape of which piece of sports equipment?

A football is about right for its bulky nest, and a pair often builds several, keeping the extras as night-time roosts rather than nurseries.

The adult of Minnesota's state bird, a strong underwater hunter, has eyes of which striking colour?

Red eyes set off its black bill, and the bird catches fish up to 26 cm long, from minnows to northern pike.

Which state started the tradition of official state birds in 1926 by choosing a red-crested songbird?

Kentucky's lawmakers led the way, and it took another 44 years for the last state to name a bird of its own.

Unlike its close relatives, the small yellow state bird of Iowa and New Jersey does what twice a year?

Molts its feathers in both spring and autumn: the male trades olive winter plumage for vivid yellow, and the bill of both sexes turns bright orange.

The brown thrasher, one state's official bird, is thought to hold which record among North American birds?

Largest song repertoire: one male has been documented with more than 1,000 different songs, though the bird itself tends to stay out of sight.

The silent 'p' in ptarmigan, one state's official bird, was added to make a Gaelic word look like which language?

Greek seemed the source to early writers, who added the letter as if the name came from 'pteron', meaning wing; the real root is the Scottish Gaelic 'tarmachan'.

Hopi and other Pueblo peoples traditionally believed New Mexico's state bird offered protection against what?

Evil spirits were kept away by the bird in Pueblo tradition, while in Mexico some said it brought babies, as storks were said to in Europe.

Which US territory or district has the totot, a small green fruit-eating bird, as its official bird?

Northern Marianas islanders call it the totot, and it was first picked as mascot of the 2006 Micronesian Games on Saipan before a tropicbird took its place.

A 1913 monument to Utah's state bird, believed to be the first US monument to birds, stands where in Salt Lake City?

Temple Square was chosen over Liberty Park, another proposed site, and sculptor Mahonri Young had to pitch the idea more than once before it was funded.

The state bird of Massachusetts survives freezing nights by slipping into which energy-saving state, rare among birds?

Torpor lets it cut its body temperature by as much as 12°C overnight, a trick shared with hummingbirds and swifts but few other birds.

The scissor-tailed flycatcher, one state's official bird, belongs to genus Tyrannus, whose members are called what?

Kingbirds defend their nests very aggressively, and this long-tailed member of the group is most closely related to the western kingbird.

The red knot's scientific name recalls which king of England, linked like the bird to the tide's edge?

Canute's legend of commanding the waves suggested the link to a bird that feeds along the tideline, though the common name may simply echo its grunting call.

The male of Colorado's state bird claims a nesting territory by singing while doing what?

Coming back down to land, he sings all the way after flying up over his patch; in summer he is jet black with a white wing patch, in winter grayish brown.

Iowa's state bird waits for seeds to ripen before breeding, so most of its nesting comes around when?

Late July is when its food supply peaks, very late for a songbird of its family, and the adults feed their young largely on regurgitated seeds.

The scientific name of the willow ptarmigan means 'hare-footed', a nod to which cold-weather feature?

Feathered toes, like the furry feet of the snowshoe hare, are typical of every ptarmigan, a group of four species at home in tundra and cold uplands.

Washington's state bird was long placed in a genus named from the Latin for which prickly plant, a favourite food?

Thistle is 'carduus' in Latin, hence the old genus Carduelis; the bird feeds on the seeds and lines its nest with the plant's down.

Which British conservationist bred Hawaii's state bird back from the brink at Slimbridge in the 1950s?

Peter Scott raised the birds at his English wetland reserve for release back in Hawaii, where the species had come close to extinction.

Captive-bred ko'ko' rails have been released since 1989 to found a wild colony on which island?

Rota has received more than 100 of the flightless birds, and in 2019 the species was officially moved from extinct in the wild to critically endangered.

The brown pelican, one state's official bird, is also the national bird of which Caribbean island nation?

Barbados shares the emblem with Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin and the Turks and Caicos Islands, each of which displays the bird on a flag, seal or coat of arms.