The South Florida representative wants to declare two new state birds instead: The American Flamingo and the scrub-jay.

This comes after the department announced in November 2024 that the Tennessee State Veterinarian believed the bird flu was ...

(Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Past arguments have gone like this: Mockingbirds, although lovely songbirds, are not unique to Florida and are the state birds of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee ...

so it has earned its spot as Florida's official state bird. A mockingbird sits on a branch on January 31, 2024, in Kodak, Tennessee. An American flamingo is seen on July 15, 2016, in Miami.

According to the American Bird Conservancy, mockingbirds live in more than half of the continental U.S. Flamingos, on the other hand, are mostly found in Florida and throughout the Caribbean except in ...

Scrub jay supporters note their candidate is uniquely Floridian, and unlike the flamingo or mockingbird, it never leaves the state. Flamingos got some exposure when Hurricane Idalia in 2023 flung ...

and is also the state bird of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. The bill, HB 81, filed by Florida Rep. James Vernon "Jim" Mooney Jr., would also designate the Florida scrub jay as the ...

which is also the official state bird of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. State officials say the “Florida favorite” can often be found “(singing) all night long, especially under ...