TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A battle over Florida’s state hen has as soon as once more taken maintain within the state legislature.
Twin payments within the state Senate and Home are proposing that the American flamingo and the Florida scrub jay take the title of state hen.
The American flamingo can be the official state hen, and the Florida scrub jay can be the official state songbird.
At present, the state hen is the northern mockingbird, designated virtually 100 years in the past in 1927.
It is not the primary time lawmakers have proposed the change; a invoice to alter the state hen was filed in 2024 however by no means made it to the governor’s desk.
The northern mockingbird might be noticed all around the state and a lot of the nation, and is the state hen for Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.
The American flamingo and Florida scrub jay, nevertheless, are extra distinctive to Florida, which makes them robust candidates for the official title.
Flamingos are discovered principally within the Caribbean, however they’ll generally be seen in South Florida and the Keys.
The plume commerce of the nineteenth century and the draining of the Everglades decimated the flamingo inhabitants in Florida, which used to quantity within the tens of hundreds.
Now, solely round 100 wild flamingos stay in Florida, however the inhabitants is rising.
For the scrub jay, the Sunshine State is the one place on this planet the place they name dwelling.
It is the one one of many state’s many native birds that’s discovered solely right here, giving it a aggressive edge within the battle for the highest spot.
Much like the blue jay, the scrub jay is blue and grey however lacks the distinct markings on the wings and head that blue jays have.
The scrub jay is listed as weak by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature and is threatened principally by habitat loss and improvement that fragments the inhabitants into smaller teams.
In line with the Florida Division of Environmental Safety, there are solely round 7,700-9,300 scrub jays left within the state.
The push to alter the state hen has been ongoing for years, but it surely stays to be seen if that is the 12 months it’s going to stick.
