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U.S. State Birds Quiz

How many official state birds can you name?
Some states have different state birds and state game birds
This quiz is not about game birds, except for Pennsylvania which only has a game bird
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: May 30, 2019
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First submittedAugust 30, 2010
Times taken18,759
Average score31.0%
Rating4.29
4:00
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State
Bird
Alabama
Northern flicker
Alaska
Willow ptarmigan
Arizona
Cactus wren
Arkansas
Northern mockingbird
California
California quail
Colorado
Lark bunting
Connecticut
American robin
Delaware
Delaware Blue Hen
Florida
Northern mockingbird
Georgia
Brown thrasher
Hawaii
Nēnē
Idaho
Mountain bluebird
Illinois
Northern cardinal
Indiana
Northern cardinal
Iowa
Eastern goldfinch
Kansas
Western meadowlark
Kentucky
Northern cardinal
Louisiana
Brown pelican
Maine
Black-capped chickadee
Maryland
Baltimore oriole
Massachusetts
Black-capped chickadee
Michigan
American robin
Minnesota
Common loon
Mississippi
Northern mockingbird
Missouri
Eastern bluebird
State
Bird
Montana
Western meadowlark
Nebraska
Western meadowlark
Nevada
Mountain bluebird
New Hampshire
Purple finch
New Jersey
Eastern goldfinch
New Mexico
Roadrunner
New York
Eastern bluebird
North Carolina
Northern cardinal
North Dakota
Western meadowlark
Ohio
Northern cardinal
Oklahoma
Scissor-tailed flycatcher
Oregon
Western meadowlark
Pennsylvania
Ruffed grouse
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Red
South Carolina
Carolina wren
South Dakota
Ring-necked pheasant
Tennessee
Northern mockingbird
Texas
Northern mockingbird
Utah
California gull
Vermont
Hermit thrush
Virginia
Northern cardinal
Washington
Willow goldfinch
West Virginia
Northern cardinal
Wisconsin
American robin
Wyoming
Western meadowlark
+10
Level 48
Nov 1, 2011
Kind of funny that Utah's state bird is the California Gull.
+2
Level 88
Jun 10, 2019
If you ask someone from Utah what their state bird is, they'll likely tell you it's the seagull, which is also what it's referred to as in State Code. Seagull is a generic term, while the California Gull is a particular species. Having grown up and lived in Utah, I've only ever heard it called the seagull in the state.
+1
Level 44
Feb 16, 2012
well, these california gulls came and ate these bugs (i think) and so they nominated that as there state bird
+19
Level 66
Feb 27, 2017
I wish they all could be California Gulls.
+1
Level 73
Jun 9, 2019
+1
+1
Level 65
Apr 22, 2020
@mightythor yep, got that stuck in my head even before I read your comment (and probably long after)
+1
Level 85
Jan 13, 2023
And Mighty Thor has won the internet!!!
+1
Level 33
Aug 3, 2012
Just "Wren" works for Carolina Wren but not Cactus Wren?
+1
Level ∞
Aug 6, 2012
Wren will work for Cactus Wren now too. Thanks!
+1
Level 37
Nov 17, 2012
Okay. The average score is six. The bird in the picture is the bird for seven states?!?
+4
Level 65
May 19, 2017
I think we can assume most people don't recognise the bird in the picture. What is it?
+1
Level 33
Aug 24, 2018
A Northern Cardinal
+6
Level 84
May 16, 2019
There are only 29 unique answers, so guessing the bird in the picture doesn't get you 7 answers. Several states have the same bird.
+1
Level 70
Nov 29, 2012
Can you please accept "Blue Hen" and "Rhode Island Red"? It's completely superfluous to type in chicken after it.
+1
Level ∞
Jun 14, 2013
Okay. Also, just chicken would have worked.
+6
Level 21
May 8, 2013
I guessed mosquito for Alaska at first
+2
Level 45
Aug 3, 2014
Okay. Two things. One, it's not a bird, and two, who in their right mind would put that as state ANYTHING? Except maybe things like 'state candidate for annihilation'. Or 'state pest'.
+5
Level 75
Mar 19, 2015
Irony: The use of words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony

Good one, CMaC13.

+7
Level 51
Apr 6, 2015
If you'd been to Alaska, you would understand this joke.
+2
Level 72
Jun 14, 2019
woosh!
+1
Level 46
Aug 15, 2013
I guessed pigeon for New York
+1
Level 83
Mar 7, 2014
All but Alaska and Hawaii. Apparently you have to live there to get those. I'm shocked Georgia's is so hard. I grew up there, so I guess I just took that one for granted.
+1
Level 75
Mar 19, 2015
Saw a nene flock while vacationing on Kaua'i. Exciting to see the world's rarest geese.
+1
Level 75
Mar 19, 2015
Since only one name was accepted for the others, I tried thrasher for Georgia but it wasn't accepted.
+1
Level 75
Mar 19, 2015
Can't believe I missed robin.
+1
Level 84
Feb 24, 2017
So what exactly is the point of designating a state bird? How does the goldfinch being the state bird of New Jersey affect the price of tea in China?
+6
Level 23
Mar 31, 2017
Watch me whip, watch me Nene
+2
Level 70
Jun 10, 2019
I came here to see if anyone had posted this yet.
+1
Level 45
Sep 27, 2023
pop music be like
+1
Level 57
May 6, 2017
Delaware Blue Hen ?
+1
Level 60
Oct 16, 2017
The list I have has a few states with quail and turkeys... I suppose they have been eaten for Thanksgiving ?
+1
Level ∞
May 30, 2019
Those are the state *game birds which are different.
+1
Level 72
Jun 14, 2019
that would be a much harder quiz
+1
Level 65
Apr 22, 2020
Maybe I am getting this wrong, but national game bird feels like a really odd concept. "this is the bird we like to kill the most" let's make it official and have all the states tell what théy like to kill the most...
+1
Level 34
Jul 22, 2018
Willow Goldfinch should be American Goldfinch. Please fix.
+1
Level ∞
May 30, 2019
The Eastern and Willow goldfinches are what the states choose to call their versions of the American goldfinch. The quiz is correct and American goldfinch is an accepted answer for both.
+1
Level 84
Aug 24, 2018
Florida's state bird isn't the flamingo?
+1
Level 33
Aug 24, 2018
Alabama's "Yellowhammer" is more commonly known as a Northern Flicker (or using older terminology, a Yellow-Shafted Flicker.) The puzzle should key to "Flicker"

This Yellowhammer is not the same bird as the european Yellowhammer -- one is a woodpecker and the other a bunting, so other than local usage, most birders avoid the term.

+1
Level ∞
May 30, 2019
Okay
+1
Level 65
Jun 9, 2019
Who the heck knows the state birds?
+1
Level 70
Jun 9, 2019
Given that I beat 70% of quiz takers having absolutely no clue about any of them, probably a very small number of people.
+2
Level 68
Jun 9, 2019
I got 18 (beating 91% of test takers) and I live in NZ and knew none of them. But I can guess robin, wren, finch, cardinal, gull, pelican, chicken, thrush, bluebird, mockingbird, etc.
+1
Level 65
Apr 22, 2020
Was a random bird guessing game for me aswell, I only got 5 though, lark and (sea)gull wasn't accepted though, while for all the others further identification wasn't necessary. (And I think I had started on pelican but stopped halfway, or was that albatross.. anyway crossed my mind but decided against it)

Plus weird how finch gave purple finch, but not goldfinch..

+1
Level 68
Jan 23, 2024
I remember Pennsylvania's because it was an extra credit question on a test I took in third or fourth grade. I got it back then and never forgot.
+1
Level 70
Jun 9, 2019
Interesting fact about ptarmigans: the initial 'p' was added in on the mistaken assumption that the word came from Greek, when it actually comes from Scottish.
+2
Level 37
Jun 9, 2019
Michigan needs to change its State bird to something else.
+2
Level 82
Jun 10, 2019
Just guessed birds at random and bombed. I guess ornithology is another trivia blindspot.
+1
Level 65
Apr 22, 2020
feels quite random how for some of the birds the adjectives/specification is needed and for others it isn't. Cardinal and robin for isntance are accepted while gull and lark isn't. And there are quite a few other complaints in the comments (though some might have been fixed allready).

Even odder how for some finches just finch is accepted but not for the others..

+1
Level 68
Nov 23, 2020
Accept Greater Roadrunner for Roadrunner? It would be consistent with the rest of the quiz.
+1
Level 68
Apr 26, 2021
Still not accepted. Every other answer on the quiz is specific besides that one
+3
Level 15
Apr 8, 2021
Totally did not use google to get 100% on this. :0
+2
Level 56
Nov 3, 2021
Why do states have state birds?
+1
Level 82
May 9, 2023
Would be useful to add to the instructions that some state birds may be game birds as I understood it to mean that game birds were explicitly excluded apart from Pennsylvania’s.