by John Jefferson
A magazine I have admired since its inception and wrote for over a forty-plus year span is advocating shooting down the State Bird.
My grandmother gave me a subscription to “Texas Game and Fish Magazine” when it first began publishing. She wanted me to have it since my grandfather had led the Game and Fish Commission, which later became Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. The publication became “Texas Parks and Wildlife” magazine.
In its May issue, TPW magazine focused on a seemingly senseless and dubious quest: encouraging a movement to change the official State Bird from the revered and appropriate state bird – the Mockingbird, established by the Texas Legislature in 1927 – to what the TPW magazine has proposed as an elected successor. This pseudo-movement is supported by a gaggle of elite birders who championed other birds as possible new State Bird candidates in the magazine. They are all respected birders. At least one has been a friend. Two of the birders writing in the article opposed changing the state bird.
This is a wildlife socio/political issue. I lack the credentials of the “state’s top birders” that TPW magazine quoted in support of “killing the mockingbird” as it referred to in the article.
However, I led birding photography workshops for roughly ten years out of Rockport and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I adore most birds on their list of nominees — except the nest-robbing, chick-eating grackle.
But retiring the mocker that has represented us appropriately for 97- years merely for the sake of change is liberalism without a cause.
The magazine is calling for a vote on this non-issue and on which bird should replace it. So far, the only publicity for replacing the mocker has been through TPW magazine. Unless the public knows about it and knows how they can cast a vote, a small percentage of Texas residents will make that decision. That’s scary.
The title to Texan Harper Lee’s book entitled “To Kill a Mockingbird” is puzzling for those who haven’t read it. It’s not about hunting mockingbirds. In fact, one of the main characters tells youngsters with BB guns, “Remember, it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Another character in the book explains that by saying, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…but sing their hearts out for us.”
Even John J. Audabon, for whom the birding society is named, referred to the mocker as, “There is probably no bird in the world that possesses all the musical qualifications of this ‘King of Song.’”
Texas became the first state with an Official State Bird. In 1927, the Texas Legislature called it “the most appropriate species for the state bird.” It’s found in every Texas county, all year long. No other bird bears that bill. Several are migratory, just passing through. The Legislature added that the mockingbird is, “… a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any true Texan.”
JJ
