Why 7 US states share one bird

Every state has an official bird, and only about half of them are unique. Seven states picked the Northern Cardinal, six picked the Western Meadowlark, and five picked the Mockingbird. That is 18 states covered by three species. The rest of the list runs from grassland larks to a flightless Hawaiian goose to an actual chicken breed. This guide covers all 50, the years they were adopted, and why the same bird keeps showing up.

The complete list of 50 state birds

State	Official bird	Year adopted
Alabama	Yellowhammer (Northern Flicker)	1927
Alaska	Willow Ptarmigan	1955
Arizona	Cactus Wren	1931
Arkansas	Mockingbird	1929
California	California Quail	1931
Colorado	Lark Bunting	1931
Connecticut	American Robin	1943
Delaware	Blue Hen Chicken	1939
Florida	Mockingbird	1927
Georgia	Brown Thrasher	1935
Hawaii	Nene (Hawaiian Goose)	1957
Idaho	Mountain Bluebird	1931
Illinois	Northern Cardinal	1929
Indiana	Northern Cardinal	1933
Iowa	American Goldfinch	1933
Kansas	Western Meadowlark	1937
Kentucky	Northern Cardinal	1926
Louisiana	Brown Pelican	1966
Maine	Black-capped Chickadee	1927
Maryland	Baltimore Oriole	1947
Massachusetts	Black-capped Chickadee	1941
Michigan	American Robin	1931
Minnesota	Common Loon	1961
Mississippi	Mockingbird	1944
Missouri	Eastern Bluebird	1927
Montana	Western Meadowlark	1931
Nebraska	Western Meadowlark	1929
Nevada	Mountain Bluebird	1967
New Hampshire	Purple Finch	1957
New Jersey	American Goldfinch	1935
New Mexico	Greater Roadrunner	1949
New York	Eastern Bluebird	1970
North Carolina	Northern Cardinal	1943
North Dakota	Western Meadowlark	1947
Ohio	Northern Cardinal	1933
Oklahoma	Scissor-tailed Flycatcher	1951
Oregon	Western Meadowlark	1927
Pennsylvania	Ruffed Grouse	1931
Rhode Island	Rhode Island Red (chicken breed)	1954
South Carolina	Carolina Wren	1948
South Dakota	Ring-necked Pheasant	1943
Tennessee	Mockingbird	1933
Texas	Mockingbird	1927
Utah	California Gull	1955
Vermont	Hermit Thrush	1941
Virginia	Northern Cardinal	1950
Washington	American Goldfinch	1951
West Virginia	Northern Cardinal	1949
Wisconsin	American Robin	1949
Wyoming	Western Meadowlark	1927

Why 7 states share the Northern Cardinal

Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia all named the Northern Cardinal their state bird between 1926 and 1950. It is the most repeated state bird in the country. Kentucky went first in 1926, and every other cardinal state followed within 24 years. The bird lends itself to being picked. Males are brilliant red year-round, they do not migrate, and their range covers the entire eastern half of the United States. A schoolchild in Cincinnati, Louisville or Charleston is looking at the same feeder visitor in January and June.

The 1920s and 1930s are when almost all of these adoptions happened. That is not a coincidence. The General Federation of Women's Clubs and state chapters of the Audubon Society ran a coordinated national campaign urging every state legislature to pick a bird. They handed lawmakers short lists to choose from. Cardinals were near the top of every list east of the Mississippi. When states did not want to overthink it, the cardinal won. Ohio's 1933 pick and Indiana's 1933 pick happened in the same legislative season.

Six states did the same thing with the Western Meadowlark, for the same reason: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming. The meadowlark is the signature grassland songbird of the Great Plains and Mountain West. Its yellow chest and fluting call are as recognizable to a Nebraska farmer as a cardinal is to a Kentucky one. Wyoming picked it in 1927, and the last of the six (North Dakota) followed in 1947. Five more states share the Mockingbird: Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, a solid Southern belt.

The oddball picks

Not every state took the safe option. A few pushed for something specific to their landscape, their politics, or their agricultural economy.

• Rhode Island Red (Rhode Island, 1954). The only state bird that is a domesticated chicken breed. It was developed in Little Compton, Rhode Island in the 1850s and is still a common backyard hen today. The state calls it out on official signage as a "breed of chicken," not a wild bird.
• Blue Hen Chicken (Delaware, 1939). Named for a Revolutionary War regiment from Kent County that carried fighting cocks descended from a famous blue hen. There is no ornithological species by that name. It is a nickname for the plumage.
• Nene (Hawaii, 1957). A flightless goose that evolved from Canada Goose ancestors after they landed on the islands roughly 500,000 years ago. The population dropped below 30 wild birds in 1952. Captive breeding at Slimbridge in England and at Pohakuloa on the Big Island has restored the population to over 3,000.
• California Gull (Utah, 1955). Utah picked a seabird for a landlocked state because in 1848, gulls reportedly saved the Mormon pioneers' first crop by eating a plague of Rocky Mountain crickets. There is a Seagull Monument in Salt Lake City marking the story.
• Greater Roadrunner (New Mexico, 1949). A ground cuckoo that runs at 20 mph and eats rattlesnakes. It is the only state bird associated with a Warner Bros. cartoon character.
• Willow Ptarmigan (Alaska, 1955). A grouse that turns white in winter. Alaskan schoolchildren voted for it, and the state adopted the pick before formal statehood in 1959.
• Ring-necked Pheasant (South Dakota, 1943). Not native. Pheasants were introduced from China in the 1880s. South Dakota still runs the country's largest pheasant hunt every October.
• Yellowhammer (Alabama, 1927). Colloquial name for the Northern Flicker, a woodpecker with yellow wing shafts. The name is a Civil War nickname for Alabama cavalry regiments who wore yellow cloth.

Which state birds are unique to one state

About 30 of the 50 birds are picked by exactly one state. The unique picks tend to be either regional endemics (a bird that mostly lives in that state) or a bird with a specific historical story:

• Louisiana, Brown Pelican. Louisiana is the Pelican State, and the bird appears on the state flag and the state seal. The species was nearly wiped out in the state by DDT in the 1960s and reintroduced from Florida stock in the 1970s.
• Minnesota, Common Loon. Minnesota has more nesting loons than any other lower-48 state. The haunting call is on tourism ads and license plates.
• Maryland, Baltimore Oriole. Named for the black and orange livery of the Calvert family, the colonial proprietors of Maryland. The Major League Baseball team is named for the state bird.
• Oklahoma, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. A songbird with a forked tail nearly as long as its body. Adopted in 1951 after competing with the bobwhite quail.
• Vermont, Hermit Thrush. Picked over the blue jay and crow after a 1941 school-vote campaign. Its evening song is the audio backdrop of every northern New England forest.
• Georgia, Brown Thrasher. A large, russet cousin of the mockingbird known for having the largest song repertoire of any North American bird (over 1,100 song types recorded).
• South Carolina, Carolina Wren. Named for the state itself. Loud, tiny and endemic to the American Southeast.
• Pennsylvania, Ruffed Grouse. A woodland gamebird prized by hunters and drummed on logs during spring courtship displays.

When state birds were adopted

Nearly every state bird was designated in a narrow 30-year window. The first wave was 1926 to 1935: Kentucky in 1926, then Alabama, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming in 1927, then Illinois, Nebraska and Arkansas in 1929. By 1935 more than half the states had picked one. The lobbying push behind that wave came from the General Federation of Women's Clubs, working alongside the Audubon Society and the Garden Club of America, who wanted birds to have the same symbolic status as state flowers (which they had won 30 years earlier).

The stragglers came slowly. Louisiana waited until 1966 to make the Brown Pelican official, though the bird was already on the state flag. New York held out until 1970. Minnesota adopted the Common Loon in 1961. Hawaii picked the Nene in 1957, weeks before statehood. Alaska's schoolchildren voted for the Willow Ptarmigan in 1955.

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