State Birds
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Pennsylvania Symbols
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Pennsylvania State Bird
Ruffed Grouse
(Bonasa umbellus)
Adopted on June 22, 1931.
The ruffed grouse was adopted as Pennsylvania's state bird on June 22, 1931, the same day its state tree was adopted. Little has been recorded about the grouse's adoption. It was championed by Mrs. Harry J. Shoemaker, Chairman of birds and flowers and the officers of the State Federation of Women's Clubs.
Description:
- Length: 14 inches
- Sexes similar
- Medium-sized, stocky, round-winged, chicken-like bird
- Crest at top of head
- Blacish ruffs on sides of neck
- Head, neck, and back brown or gray
- Breast whitish with brown and black bars and chevrons
- Long, squarish tail
- Tail brown or gray with narrow black and pale bars and broad blackish subterminal band
History:
Settlers relied on this plump, red-brown bird with the feathery legs as part of their food supply. Sometimes called a partridge, the Ruffed Grouse is still a familiar sight in Pennsylvania's forests.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
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| Kingdom |
Animalia -- animals |
| Phylum |
Chordata -- chordates |
| Subphylum |
Vertebrata -- vertebrates |
| Class |
Aves -- birds |
| Order |
Galliformes -- fowls, gallinaceous birds |
| Family |
Phasianidae -- grouse, pheasants, quail |
| Genus |
Bonasa Stephens, 1819 -- ruffed grouse |
| Species |
Bonasa umbellus (Linnaeus, 1766) -- ruffed grouse |
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Official State Birds
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Bird:
a. Any of the class Aves of warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings.
b. Such an animal hunted as game.
c. Such an animal, especially a chicken or turkey, used as food
State Bird:
a. Bird selected (as by the legislature) as an emblem of a state of the United States.
NOTE: Many states have more than one official bird, or have designate state birds more specifically.
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