Your state bird is a stupid choice. What it should be:

[cali]

I drove over a bridge from Maryland into Virginia today and on the big “Welcome to Virginia” sign was an image of the state bird, the northern cardinal—with a yellow bill. I should have scoffed, but it hardly registered. Everyone knows that state birds are a big joke. There are a million cardinals, a scattering of robins, and just a general lack of thought put into the whole thing.



States should have to put more thought into their state bird than I put into picking my socks in the morning. “Ugh, state bird? I dunno, what're the guys next to us doing? Cardinal? OK, let's do that too. Yeah put it on all the signs. Nah, no time to research the bill color, let's just go.” It’s the official state bird! Well, since all these jackanape states are too busy passing laws requiring everyone to own guns or whatever to consider what their state bird should be, I guess I’ll have to do it.

1. Alabama. Official state bird: yellowhammer

Right out of the gate with this thing. Yellowhammer? C’mon. I Asked Jeeves and it told me that Yellowhammer is some backwoods name for a yellow-shafted flicker. The origin story dates to the Civil War, when some Alabama troops wore yellow-trimmed uniforms. Sorry, but that’s dumb, mostly because it’s just a coincidence and has nothing to do with the actual bird. If you want a woodpecker, go for something with a little more cachet, something that’s at least a full species.



2. Alaska. Official state bird: willow ptarmigan

Willow Ptarmigans are the dumbest-sounding birds on Earth, sorry. They sound like rejected Star Wars aliens, angrily standing outside the Mos Eisley Cantina because their IDs were rejected. Why go with these dopes, Alaska, when you’re the best state to see the most awesome falcon on Earth?

What it should be: gyrfalcon

<snip>

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/state_bird_improvements_replace_cardinals_and_robins_with_warblers_and_hawks.single.html

[cherokeeprogressive]

1. Well, at least SOMEONE has their finger on what's really wrong with this country.

[shenmue]

9. About darn time!

All I get to do is watch the birds every morning, in the tree outside my window.

[NutmegYankee]

2. Wow, what a lame article and piss poor research

The Connecticut Warbler doesn't even breed in Connecticut. And it's not commonly found here either.

[Brickbat]

3. Heh. At least it got mine right.

23. Minnesota. Official state bird: common loon

All right, that works.

What it should be: common loon

[11 Bravo]

13. Michelle Bachmann is the state bird?

That explains a lot.

[Morning Dew]

16. Not for long - Our new state bird, I fear, is

the drone...

http://www.startribune.com/local/207963661.html?refer=y

CAMP RIPLEY, MINN. – The Shadow, an unmanned aerial vehicle commonly known as a drone, roars to life on the video screen like a powerful snowmobile before it’s launched into the skies on a catapult.

Unfortunately, weather conditions prevented the real thing from taking flight Friday morning as the Minnesota National Guard officially launched its new $3.9 million Unmanned Aircraft Operations Facility.

The Guard has flown UAVs since 2004 and has seven at Camp Ripley: three Shadows, with 14-foot wing spans, and four smaller Ravens, with 5-foot wing spans that can be carried in a backpack, quickly assembled and launched by hand.

The reconnaissance drones do not carry weapons, only sophisticated cameras that help troops see what’s over the next hill, around the next corner or up ahead in the road. The videos and photos they transmit can pinpoint enemy troops or identify a house where they’re holed up.

[MH1]

20. Yep, that's a good one.

[Bennyboy]

4. They are right... the Quail?

Wasn't that what Dick Cheney was hunting when he shot that guy in the face? And that was Texas.

So many unique birds all over.

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. Texas: Mockingbird

We have about 6-10 in our backyard every day.

Not so dumb for a state bird here.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. They're such a funny bird to watch, too.

The way they fly in loops off the top of utility polls as if they've not a care in the world has always amused me.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Me too! We have one who dances on the neighbor's roof every morning...

Doing his eleventy-billion bird calls and flying up...and then fluttering back down. I love those little guys.

[knitter4democracy]

6. I agree with his recommendation for Michigan.

Kirtland Warbler makes a ton more sense.

[amandabeech]

17. Absolutely.

I have nothing against robins, but the Kirkland's Warbler is found in only a few places in Michigan and a couple in Wisconsin.

I also think that the state flower should be changed from the apple blossom to the tart cherry blossom, since Michigan produces more tart, bright red cherries for pie and cheesecake topping than any other state in the union.

[Major Nikon]

8. They totally missed it with Texas

Mockingbird is the state bird of Texas, which unquestionably fits Texas politics, which is our chief export. The Mockingbird gets it's name for mocking other birds. In other words, a phony. If you consider our last two gifts to the Executive, the first was a carpetbagger. The second was a ne'er do well son who was still a Yankee who didn't know one end of a cow from another, yet somehow managed to convince millions he was a 'man of the earth'.

[alarimer]

21. But it's also the state bird of maybe 7-8 other states.

It, along with the cardinal, is the most common state bird. Texas is a great birding state and there are lots of birds seen there and nowhere else in the US.

The Aplomado Falcon, the green jay, to name two. The article named a few others.

[Major Nikon]

22. But nowhere does it fit better than Texas

Just sayin'

[FarCenter]

11. District of Columbia's official bird is the Wood Thrush, when it ought to be this bald-headed bird

[zappaman]

12. And Obama does nothing about this, of course.

Why isn't this number one on his to-do list?

[tularetom]

14. Wow, somebody has waaaaay too much time on their hands

There's a lot of things that needs done around here so if they want some steady work for awhile they can contact me.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Oregon's State Bird was selected by popular vote by students in 1972 during an Audubon Society

Sponsored election. Not sure who Mr Lund is, but we go with the vote here....

[madinmaryland]

18. WHAT THE FUCK!! You were in Maryland and did not stop by to see me??

That deserves the BIRD!!

[Lochloosa]

19. Florida's is the Mocking Bird...an ugly grey asshole of a bird..it should be...

The Plastic Flamingo!

[mokawanis]

23. In Wisconsin it's the robin

but it should be the mosquito.

[mitchtv]

24. thry got it right about CA

is: Ca Quail
should be: condor

[JaneyVee]

25. NY should be the pigeon.

[jmowreader]

26. This guy's choice was a stupid choice for Idaho

He kept the Mountain Bluebird. I would have chosen the Chukar Partridge...



The only problem is people keep shooting and eating them...but they breed quickly enough to replenish the population.

[XemaSab]

28. They're not native

[DesertFlower]

27. arizona -- cactus wren. i don't really

care -- i've got more important things to think about.