For that matter, so are Rhode Island reds 
3 Likes
Our 시조 ( 市鳥/“City Bird”) here in Uijeongbu, South Korea is the feral pigeon. (Link) I’m not really fond of that choice but it certainly fits your criteria.
The reason behind that choice, for those curious:
The pigeon was designated as the city bird on October 7, 1972, with its clean appearance and beauty representing a pleasant city, and its strong reproductive power and gentleness symbolizing the desire of citizens for ever-increasing prosperity and peace.
…
I have yet to find a comprehensive list of all the city birds for Korean cities, but from checking individual city pages it looks like feral pigeons, Oriental magpies, “egrets” (백로, so no particular species but presumably little egrets based on the accompanying images), and gulls (some cities list a species, others don’t) are the overwhelming favorites.
3 Likes
As much as I love Cardinals, I hate that they’re the state bird of so many states. Wood duck is a good suggestion, but I would honestly throw things like Great Blue Herons, Blue Jays, and Downy Woodpeckers into the mix. Native, charismatic, and not too terribly rare.
Just mix it up so seven freaking states don’t have the same bird.
3 Likes
I want to try and do the same with flower observations…
2 Likes
Maryland, Utah, and Oklahoma have some nicely picked state birds, I think they should stay. American Crow being the state bird for Washington, and American Oystercatcher for New Jersey are nice. For my own state, Nevada, American Coot is an interesting choice, but I think Golden Eagle, Sagebrush Sparrow, or maybe Verdin would be better. Mountain Bluebird is an alright choice, though sharing a state bird isn’t great.
3 Likes
For Nevada, Golden Eagle is a great choice. Verdin is a neat bird that I always enjoy seeing in Vegas when I’m there but is limited to the southern part of the state so might not be that representative of the whole state. American Coots are everywhere in the US and I don’t think of them as symbolic of arid Nevada.
1 Like
My understanding is that Baltimore Orioles weren’t actually named after the city, but rather Lord Baltimore, one of the two founders of Maryland. His coat of arms included the colors black, orange, and white, just as do Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Checkerspots. (I expect that the baseball team was named for the city, though…)
3 Likes
I think the algorithm could be a good tool in assisting a decision and help get rid of the repeated species - but generally agree that state birds cannot be determined by numbers alone… I don’t think it will matter much anyways. A few states might change their bird over time but tradition tends to prevail.
I do wonder why not a single hummingbird has been chosen as a State bird, however. It seems like with the kind of popularity they enjoy among the public someone would have sprung for it.
Ok- so somewhat similar…
Birth flowers. Mine traditionally is Lily-of-the-valley for May, but of course I can’t be having any truck with that! Would there be a way to assign native flowers with a blooming time relevant to a birth month, and have it be unique to that month but not rare…
of course, having birth flowers dependent on region wouldn’t go over well with gift-givers and commercial powers that be in general… but as a hypothetical seems more interesting than limiting ourselves to 12.
2 Likes
One immediate problem would be temperate regions where less flowers are in bloom in certain months. For example filtering Ohio native wildflowers by bloom time for each month gives the following species counts… especially unfair if you’re born in December, January or February in Ohio.
I suspect I am alone in loving the idea of skunk cabbage as a birth flower!
1 Like
When we first started being interested in flowers and started counting the number of species we found on hikes (before we knew about inaturalist) - I always made fun of my wife for counting skunk-cabbage and jack-in-the-pulpit because I thought they are not really flowers 
I completely changed my mind though, nowadays Araceae are one of my absolute favorites and I think they have the best flowers!
I guess for Ohio skunk cabbage could be the January flower and snow trillium the February one. There’s nothing for December though - unless I extend the definition of flowers to include trees, then witch hazel would be the one to bloom now.
I want ladies tresses for my own birth flower, but new england aster observations beat them 3119 to 189 in Ohio 
1 Like
Here are some of my takes
While the Nene as the state bird of Hawaii is great, I feel like the Iiwi would be good too.
Alaska should be either the King Eider or the Emperor Goose.
Oregon should be Black Oystercatcher
Washington should be the Sooty Grouse
Michigan should be the Kirtland’s Warbler
Florida should be the Florida Scrub Jay
Vermont should be the Bicknell’s Thrush
Conneticut should be the Saltmarsh Sparrow
Maine should be the Atlantic Puffin, or any other Alcid
Georgia should be the Bachman’s Sparrow
Kansas should be the Lesser Prairie Chicken
Colorado should be either the Black Rosy Finch or the Gunnison Sage Grouse
Nevada should be the Gambel’s Quail
Wyoming should be the Common Raven
New Jersey should be the Cape May Warbler
Kentucky should be the Kentucky Warbler for obvious reasons
Idaho should be the Pygmy Nuthatch
Mississippi should be the Laughing Gull
West Virginia should be the Northern Bobwhite
Also
I’m torn on Texas because it has so many unique birds but it definitely shouldn’t be the Mockingbird, one of the least original state birds out there.
I think a lot more state birds should be warblers, ducks, and sparrows
As for my favourite state bird? I think Oklahoma’s is fitting and a well known icon for state residents.
Brown-capped is a breeding endemic in Colorado (and extreme northern New Mexico) while Black only visits in winter Black Rosy-Finch Range Map
Whooping Crane? Golden-cheeked Warbler? Black-capped Vireo?
1 Like
Whooping Crane would be a bad pick imo opinion since they don’t breed there. Golden-cheeked Warbler would be a nice one, I always associate Texas birds with the Green Jay but that’s only in a very small part of Texas so I don’t think it would fit.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.