Tweeters,
This website lists all 50 official State Birds.

http://www.50states.com/bird/statelst.htm

Regarding Lydia's original question, I'm not sure if she was inquiring as to which species were most commonly designated as state birds, or of all the official state birds, which were the most common throughout their range. The answer to the former alternative question is:
1. N. Cardinal (7 states)
2. Western Meadowlark (6 states)
3. N. Mockingbird (5 states)
The more interesting question to me is the latter alternative. Which of the official state birds is the most populous. This is related to the way that Rick Romea interpreted Lydia's question when he replied

>This question has a multitude of possible answers, depending on how it is
>framed. For example, gazillions of Western Sandpipers pass through
>Washington State in migration, but are only here for a short while. On the
>other hand, if you were to estimate the average number of resident (say)
>Red-breasted Nuthatches per acre and integrate over the state of Washington,
>that's a lot of Nuthatches. But you only see or hear them one or a couple
>at a time. On the other hand (if you had three hands?) what birds are you
>most likely to see on a morning birdwalk? Well...it depends where you are
>and what time of year it is. So this is a great question (and not
>necessarily trivial !) Makes you think. I suspect anyone who throws out an
>answer could probably defend it, but others could argue for different birds.

My guess would be American robin, but maybe it is ring-billed gull, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, or perhaps Rhode Island red chicken.
Greg Toffic


>>> Irene Wanner <iwanner at u.washington.edu> 07/22 11:49 AM >>>
If you-all remember, several years ago the USPO printed a sheet of stamps
with each state flower and its bird. I wish I had kept one! It'd be an
easy way to check.