List of U.S. state birds

rdf:langString List of U.S. state birds

rdf:langString Below is a list of U.S. state birds as designated by each state's legislature, as well as the District of Columbia's state bird. The list also contains U.S. territory birds as designated by each territory's legislature. The selection of state birds began in 1927, 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. The last state to choose its bird was Arizona in 1973. 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. Several states have extinct official animals, such as state dinosaurs in addition to state insects, state butterflies, state mammals and state reptiles. The District of Columbia designated a district bird in 1938. Each of the five inhabited territories of the United States has a designated territorial bird (except for American Samoa and Puerto Rico).