Subject: Unique Washington Bird
Date: Jul 26 10:23:00 1995
From: "Gates, Bryan" - BGATES at assessment.env.gov.bc.ca


Michael Price wrote:

>For a while it looked as though the Province of BC was also going to adopt
>it (Varied Thruish) as the official Provincial Bird, but the government that
>finally decided...ignored the advice and desires of the nature crowd and
>chose the Steller's Jay as more to its liking.

To expand on this, it was really the _people_ (including the "nature crowd")
who chose the Steller's Jay, not the government per se. In 1987,
the Centennial of Wildlife Conservation in Canada was celebrated. I was
assigned to coordinate BC's involvement, and one of the programs we took on
was to select an Official Provincial Bird. (The Provincial Tree - Western
Redcedar - came later, and the Official Flower - the Dogwood - came much
earlier).

The public was invited to vote on a select list of "appropriate
candidate birds" chosen by a team of biologists and naturalist's familiar
with BC's birds. Varied Thrush, Western Tanager, Steller's Jay, Harlequin
Duck, Blue Grouse, Rufous Hummingbird, etc, were among the 10 listed, but
write-ins were accepted.

The results? In total, 82,000 ballots were received (I know! I counted them)
and the winner by a vast majority was the Steller's Jay.

Some were happy, others not, but the elected officials did not influence the
public's choice.

Is a public ballot for an official bird a possiblity for Washington?
Seattle?

Bryan Gates, Victoria
bgates at assessment.env.gov.bc.ca