What is the Oregon state bird?

How did Oregon's schoolchildren choose the meadowlark?

With a ballot, not a bill. The Oregon Audubon Society sponsored a statewide election among schoolchildren in 1927, and the Western Meadowlark won 40,000 of the 75,000 votes, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia of the Oregon Historical Society. A newspaper story of June 1, 1927, ran under the headline “Meadowlark Voted Official State Bird.”

Governor Isaac L. Patterson proclaimed the choice in July 1927, the Oregon Blue Book records. The Legislature never followed with a law. The Oregon Encyclopedia calls the meadowlark “the only Oregon symbol not officially chosen by the state legislature,” and the notes to Oregon's state-symbols chapter list it only as the official songbird.

Did Oregon try to replace the meadowlark?

Yes, in 2017. Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 was introduced to make the osprey the official state bird. It called the meadowlark “an unoriginal choice,” shared with five other states and rarely seen where most Oregonians live, and noted that “the Legislative Assembly never formally adopted the western meadowlark.”

Lawmakers kept both birds. The version adopted named the osprey the state raptor and the Western Meadowlark the state songbird, because “sometimes the best answer to an ‘either-or’ question is ‘and.’” The House adopted it on July 7, 2017.

The Blue Book calls the osprey “a fitting symbol of Oregon's rugged independence, strength and resilience.” Audubon painted it too: see our osprey painting page.

Why the meadowlark?

Its song. The Oregon Encyclopedia says it was “the distinctive song heard throughout farm country” that led to its adoption (Western Meadowlark), and the Blue Book calls it “distinctive for its flute-like song.” The Legislature's 2017 staff summary adds that you are “more likely to hear, than to see” one.

Where can you hear a meadowlark in Oregon?

In grassland and farm country. The Oregon Encyclopedia names native grasslands from the Owyhee country of Malheur County to the hills outside The Dalles and the mounded prairies of Jackson County. Meadowlarks are most abundant around the Blue Mountains and in the Rogue Valley, and a few nest on the southern coast.

The Willamette Valley is harder: its prairies “have largely been replaced.” In winter, flocks of 50 or more gather west of the Cascades, and the first returning birds are seen in February.

Their family life is busier than it looks. Two-thirds or more of the males in a population have two mates, the Oregon Encyclopedia says, and a female may build a grass tunnel leading to her domed nest.

Which other states have the Western Meadowlark?

Five, as the 2017 staff summary lists them: Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. That makes the meadowlark the second most common state bird, after the Northern Cardinal. Montana also chose it by a school vote, in 1930, and Nebraska wrote it into law in 1929. Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming are in our table of all 50 state birds.

Questions about the Oregon state bird