Michigan State Bird

Robin

(Turdus migratorius)

Adopted on April 8, 1931.

After the robin, Turdus migratorius, was favored in a Michigan Audubon Society contest to choose a State bird, the Michigan legislature made it official. Proclaiming the poll in which 200,000 votes were cast "widely and generally conducted," House Concurrent Resolution 30 of 1931 designated the robin as Michigan's state bird. Legislators called the robin "the best known and best loved of all the birds in the State of Michigan."

Description of the Michigan State Bird: Robin

Familiar in the summertime throughout North America, the American Robin is seen from Alaska to Virginia. Most people do not know that many Robins spend the entire winter in New England. They roost among the evergreens in the swamps where they feed on winter berries.

• Length: 8.5 inches
• Black to dark gray head
• Broken eye ring
• Dull red breast and belly
• White undertail coverts
• Gray upperparts
• Streaked throat
• Thin yellow bill
• Sexes similar-female somewhat paler
• Winter plumage is somewhat paler than Summer plumage
• Juveniles have spotted, whiter breasts
• Common in residential areas where it often forages on lawns
• Often sings very early in morning
• Often found in large flocks outside of breeding season

Resolution

House Concurrent Resolution No. 30, the Senate concurring, on April 8, 1931. The resolution read, in part:

"WHEREAS, A widely and generally conducted contest to choose a State bird, carried on by the Michigan Audubon Society, resulted in nearly 200,000 votes being cast, of which Robin Red Breast received many more votes than any other bird as the most popular bird in Michigan; andWHEREAS, The robin is the best known and best loved of all the birds in the State of Michigan; thereforeBE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (THE SENATE CONCURRING), That the robin be and the same is hereby designated and adopted as the official State bird of the State of Michigan."

Statute

The adoption of the robin as the official state bird is therefore not documented in the statutory law of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

Taxonomic Hierarchy of the Robin