State bird
21/10/12 05:19


From there we moved to North Dakota. It also has the Western Meadowlark as its state bird. There are plenty of meadowlarks to go around. In fact the meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming.

And now we live in South Dakota. So this is the first time that I have lived in a state where the state bird actually spends the winter in the state. All of the other places that I have lived have had commuter state birds that go elsewhere during the winter. On the other hand, our state bird here in South Dakota isn’t a native. In all the other states where I have lived the state bird found its way to the state on its own. Here in South Dakota, our state bird was intentionally introduced. There was a time when there were no ring-necked pheasants in South Dakota. The reason they were brought to our state is one of the main reasons they remain popular in South Dakota to this day.
You see, South Dakota is the only place where I have lived where there is an official hunting season on the state bird. We eat them. They are delicious. Try doing that with a meadowlark, cardinal or mountain blue bird. It would take a mess of those little things to make a Sunday dinner for the family.

My perspective is a bit skewed, I suppose, because I am not a hunter. I don’t own a shotgun and I have only fired a shotgun once in my life. I’m not opposed to hunting when it is pursued safely, and I like to eat wild game, but I’m just as happy tramping through the woods with a camera as I would be with a gun. And, over the years, I have harvested my share of pheasants with the grill, bumper and headlights of my pickup.
One day last spring, Susan and I were driving on a busy freeway in Kansas City, Missouri. I noticed that a car had been following us for quite a while. When we got to our exit, that car exited. With each turn we made the car followed. When we got to our destination, I got out of our vehicle and the man who had been following us got out of his. He introduced himself and said he had noticed that we were from South Dakota and wondered if we had any good contacts for pheasant hunting. He said he’d sure love to have an invitation to come to South Dakota to hunt pheasants.
You see, not only did we import our state bird for the purposes of hunting. These days we also import hunters to go after our state bird. It is a bit confusing to those who don’t live here and appreciate our culture. We like playing host to visitors. If you are reading this and don’t live in South Dakota, please know that you are welcome any time. I’m sorry that I don’t have access to any of the favorite hunting places, but I probably know someone who could get you an invitation.
Back in 2001, when our nation was reeling from the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, there was a day in October when there was a front-page story in USA today that proclaimed, “Vice President remains in an undisclosed location.” The headline in our local newspaper that same day was, “Vice president hunts pheasants near Pierre.” Before that time, we didn’t know that we lived in an undisclosed location. I’ve been giving out my address to friends and relatives for years. On the other hand, we may have gotten a bit lax on security. It is a really safe place to live. And we are used to the cargo holds of passenger airlines on which we travel being filled with shotguns.
So be careful out there. Loaded shotguns can be dangerous and there are a lot of you driving up and down the dusty gravel roads. The land is dry and the fire danger is extreme. We want you to enjoy yourselves and we’d love it if you come back next year. Try finding another state where they serve the state bird at fancy dinners at the governor’s mansion.