I’ve chosen to do Oklahoma second because, in my opinion, it has one of the most well chosen state birds, and I didn’t want to create the impression that I would be overthrowing every state’s decision. For those of you who don’t know, the state bird is currently the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher, and if you’re not familiar with it, it’s a fantastic bird. I’ve never been to Oklahoma (or any state where the STF breeds) but we stumbled upon a few wintering birds in Florida a few years ago, and they were remarkable. Even looking beyond the feature from which it takes its name, the bird is totally unique, with a remarkable amount of white for a songbird, and striking pinkish underwings.
So we’ve established that it’s a cool bird, but how does it fit our state bird criteria? As far as I can judge it’s pretty characteristic of Oklahoma, which I imagine is a bit like Central Florida (that is with a lot of farm and pasture land), but with a lower water table. It certainly fulfills the uniqueness criteria, as there are only three states that could possibly claim the scissor-tail, Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska, as their state bird. As a flycatcher, mostly of open country, it has the visibility thing covered as well. And according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the decision to make it the state bird was a result of a groundswell of public support, rather than some bureaucratic decision process, so it has some folkloric cred to.
So that’s it. The Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher is hereby affirmed as the state bird of Oklahoma.
