If you are lucky, you live in one of those territories where the official state bird has some unique, distinctive place in the landscape and thus the life of the people who live there. Will Oremus at Slate does us all a big favor and goes through the list, state by state, and where necessary re-assigns birds to states that lack imagination.
This has been the most depressing post I have ever put together. Three robins but no blue jay? Seven cardinals but no owls or hawks? Five filthy mockingbirds? This is what we pay taxes for, folks.
For all his grousing, he doesn’t allocate enough raptors, but one thing I learned: there is at least one thing Oklahoma gets right.
And not to be outdone with its generous displays of excess, here are three minutes of beer cans being opened by (almost) every way imaginable, and then a few more beyond that.