ORLANDO, Fla. – A baffling debate has been happening in Florida and it’s strange even by Florida standards.
The fight to make a sweet, friendly and unique bird the winged representative of the Sunshine State is likely to leave you scratching your head.
I thought the one person who could make things crystal clear for us about the mockingbird versus Florida scrub-jay debate was Orlando Sentinel Columnist Scott Maxwell.
As it turns out, Maxwell thinks this story defies logic, too.
“I’ve covered a lot of weird stories, and covering politics in Florida, for more than two decades. Florida does weird the way like the shark from ‘Jaws’ does eating swimmers. I mean, we do a lot of it,” he explained.
When this is Maxwell’s out-of-the-gate answer to your first question, you know the rest of this story is likely going to leave you with more.
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In case you didn’t know, the official state bird of Florida is the mockingbird, or as my birding friends like to call it, Mimus polyglottos. According to the Florida Department of State, “The mockingbird is a superb songbird and mimic. Its own song has a pleasant lilting sound and is, at times, both varied and repetitive. Often the mockingbird sings all the night long, especially under bright springtime moonlight.” Well, that does sound lovely.
Until you realize this bird gets around. It is also the state bird of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.
Not only is it not unique in this aspect, but Maxwell also joked, “Naming the mockingbird as your state bird is like naming McDonald’s as your official state restaurant.”
Point made.
If only Florida had a bird that these other states don’t have. A bird so different, it would stand out in the crowd because of its unique qualities.
Enter the Florida scrub-jay, which also answers its street name of Aphelocoma coerulescens.
According to the National Audubon Society, “This bird is noteworthy on several counts. It lives nowhere in the world except Florida.”
Insert the record-scratch sound here. Do other people know about this?
Sure enough, other people do know. In fact, many more people know about the Florida scrub-jay thanks to some Seminole County high school students who led the charge more than two decades ago to give the bird its day in the Sunshine State.
“So they said, ‘Let’s make this bird our state bird.’ It seemed like it should be a no-brainer, maybe a bird-brainer,” Maxwell said.
When those high school students floated the idea of switching up state birds, they had no idea the feathers they were ruffling.
With as much passion and love as those students in 1999 had for the Florida scrub-jay, one woman had just as much disdain — maybe even more — for the cute little blue bird.
“It is because of one person, and everybody admits it,” Maxwell said.
That person? Marion Hammer, a former longtime lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.
Maxwell describes Hammer’s hate for the Florida scrub-jay as next-level.
“Marion Hammer hates the scrub-jay with a white-hot, absolutely bizarre passion, and when I say she hates it, I mean that this woman has gone to Tallahassee multiple times, testified in hearings about how much she loathes the scrub-jay,” he said.
Why does Hammer have so much hate toward a bird known for its friendly qualities? Maxwell said that’s one of the reasons most people like this bird. He said it will land on your head and even eat out of your hands, though we should note that because Florida scrub-jays are a federally-designated threatened species, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sees feeding them like that as harassment and forbids it. Still, that particular quality of the friendly bird is one reason Hammer squashed any hopes of the Florida scrub-jay pushing the mockingbird off of its perch.
Maxwell explained that on one occasion when Hammer went to Tallahassee to testify, she said the fact that the Florida scrub-jay would eat out of your hands was proof, “It had a welfare mentality.”
But all hope is not lost. A new generation of Seminole County students who continue to fight for the Florida scrub-jay has made some headway.
Seminole County recently voted to make the Florida scrub-jay its official county bird.
One county down, 66 more to go.
You can watch the entire interview with Scott Maxwell in the video player at the top of this story. Also, let us know what you think. Should the Florida scrub-jay be our official state bird, or should the mockingbirds continue their nearly 100-year reign?
You can listen to every episode of the Florida’s Fourth Estate podcast in the media player below: