With over 900 species of birds found in the United States one would think there should be enough birds to go around. With that many birds flying around it would seem every state could have its very own special state bird. That's not the case though. It appears a bird either needs to be brightly color or very noisy to capture the attention of the general public.
Three birds, the Cardinal, Western Meadowlark and the Mockingbird, have been adopted by over 1/3 of the states. Two states didn't bother to consult Peterson's guide and chose domestic species. And yet another chose an introduced species.
Louisiana was the first to adopt a state bird in 1900, but it nearly went extinct in the 1970s thanks to DDT. Obviously, birders could have done a much better job of picking birds for each of the states. Can you match the birds with the right states?
