State Bird

What were we thinking, a century ago, when we elected the cardinal or the mockingbird as our state’s official bird? Amy Stewart went looking for answers and found early conservationists imploring the public to admire birds, rather than shoot them; schoolchildren on their first trip to the ballot box; and exasperated women’s clubs urging lawmakers to name one bird that actually mattered to them. Along the way, bird primaries went off the rails, legislators treated debates like comic relief, and adults realized too late that children sometimes voted for the wrong bird. In this lighthearted history and travelogue, Stewart takes us to states that made brilliant and sometimes baffling choices, from Minnesota’s beloved loon to Hawaii’s imperiled nene to Delaware’s mythical blue hen—and asks if it’s time for a do-over. Beautifully illustrated with Stewart’s own portraits, State Bird makes a passionate case for why state birds matter in the twenty-first century.