Florida Keys State Rep. Jim Mooney has filed a bill in Tallahassee that would designate the flamingo as the state bird, replacing the mockingbird. As part of Mooney’s bill, the scrub-jay would be the state songbird.
State Rep. Chip LaMarca, whose district includes Broward County, joined Mooney in sponsoring the bill, along with three other co-sponsors.
An identical bill has been filed in the state senate by Sen. Ileana Garcia, whose district includes parts of Miami-Dade County. The bill is making its way through committees before the 2025 legislative session starts on March 4.
Similar bills have been filed in previous sessions, but have not made it to a full vote.
The mockingbird has been the state bird since 1927.
According to NBC News in Miami, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto in May asked the wildlife agency to renew efforts to designate a state bird that is unique to Florida.
“The state bird of Florida is the mockingbird. However, five other states have the mockingbird as the state bird,” Barreto said. “I’ve got to believe we can find a bird that is different from five other states.”
The FWC considers flamingoes native to Florida, although they were hunted nearly to extinction around the turn of the 20th century for their bright pink feathers that were prized for hats and other ornamentation.
The endangered pink flamingo has become a symbol of Florida, appearing on countless tourism souvenirs and promotional promotional materials as well as on the state’s lottery tickets.
The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory is home to two flamingoes, Rhett and Scarlet, that were born and raised in captivity elsewhere. They were not taken from the wild and could not survive on their own.
