The legislatures of the 50 states in the USA have designated a state bird. It all began in the 1920s when the General Federation of Women’s Clubs mounted a campaign encouraging the states to name official birds. The first to designate an official bird was Alabama in 1927.

It took the state of Washington 23 years to name an official state bird. The history of this decision is interesting. According to the Washington state website, the state legislators initiated three campaigns to choose the bird. The first was initiated in 1928 when the legislators asked Washington school children for their opinion. They overwhelmingly decided that the western meadowlark was the best choice. However, the legislators worried because the meadowlark had already been approved as a state bird in other states or was extremely popular in many of the other states, so no action was taken.

In 1931 the Washington Federation of Women’s Clubs sponsored a statewide referendum. The willow goldfinch (also known as the American goldfinch) made a strong showing over the western tanager, the song sparrow, the junco, and the pileated woodpecker. Again, no action was taken. It took 20 more years for a choice to be made. The legislators decided to ask again for a vote. The choices given were the western meadowlark or the willow goldfinch. The goldfinch won out! Thus, Washington’s official state bird was declared to be the “willow” goldfinch in 1951.

The story doesn’t stop here. Two other states, Iowa and New Jersey, had also declared the goldfinch as their state bird. While our state used the name “willow” goldfinch. Iowa and New Jersey used the name eastern goldfinch. I conducted an online search for an explanation of why the names willow goldfinch and eastern goldfinch were used rather than American goldfinch. I was particularly interested in why our bird was called a willow goldfinch. Audubon.org answered my query. The website replied, “Well, those are still technically the American Goldfinch, but are common names for the Eastern and Pacific Coast subspecies.” I plan to investigate this further. I didn’t know about any of this until I began to think about state birds! I still wonder about the word willow!

These small, delightful finches are vegetarians. While many species feed protein to their young nestlings, the American goldfinch doesn’t. Their menu consists of seeds and berries. Being vegetarian turns out to be an advantage if a brown-headed cowbird lays an egg in its nest. The cowbird egg hatches but the young don’t usually survive in a goldfinch nest because cowbirds nestlings require protein and all they get is vegetarian fare.

Our state bird is common in Pacific County and on the Long Beach Peninsula. It is hard to miss. During the breeding season, the male American goldfinch is a bright yellow and sports a black cap, black wings with white wing-bars. It loses its vibrant yellow after the breeding season, when it becomes more like the female in color. The female has dark wings with pale wing-bars and is dressed in colors that range from a dull yellow, grayish to greenish plumage. The goldfinch readily comes to feeders. It also frequents tall grassy fields, where it can often be seen clinging to weeds with seed heads.

And so goes the saga of our official state bird, the American goldfinch, aka the “willow” goldfinch. Keep your eyes open for this noisy, little finch. It becomes a little less common in winter, but it is around to be sure. Happy birding!