List of U.S. state birds

Below is a list of U.S. state birds as designated by each state's, district's or territory's government.

The selection of state birds began with Kentucky adopting the northern cardinal in 1926. It continued when the legislatures for Alabama, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming selected their state birds after a campaign was started by the General Federation of Women's Clubs to name official state birds in the 1920s.[1][2] The last state to choose its bird was Arizona in 1973.

Pennsylvania never chose an official state bird, but did choose the ruffed grouse as the state game bird.[3] Alaska, California, and South Dakota permit hunting of their state birds. Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee have designated an additional "state game bird" for the purpose of hunting. The northern cardinal is the state bird of seven states, followed by the western meadowlark as the state bird of six states.

The District of Columbia designated a district bird in 1938.[4] Of the five inhabited territories of the United States, American Samoa and Puerto Rico are the only ones without territorial birds.

  1. ^ Courtney, David. "The Texanist: Why Do We Share a State Bird With Five Other States?". Texas Monthly. No. October 2019. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  2. ^ "GFWC Federation Facts". General Federation of Women's Clubs. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference DC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).