I grew up in Montana. The state bird there is the Western meadowlark. The arrival of meadowlarks is a sure sign of spring on the open prairie. Robins can show up at any time of the year, but meadowlarks mean that spring is at hand. They have a wonderful song that is easy to remember. I learned to whistle the distinct tune when I was a small boy.

We went to Illinois for graduate school, where the state bird is the Northern Cardinal. But we lived in Chicago and seeing a cardinal in our neighborhood was rare. I went from a place where the state bird seemed to be a common sight to one where there were lots of people who didn’t know what the state bird sounded like. But folks in Illinois knew that the bird was red and probably would recognize one if they saw it. With the name of the baseball team in St. Louis, you might think that at least one other state would adopt the cardinal as its state bird, but Illinois is unique in its choice.

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.

Then we moved to Idaho. The Mountain Bluebird is a gorgeous bird. The bright blue of the males is a joy to see as they fly among the pine trees. Idaho doesn’t have an exclusive on their state bird. It is shared with the neighbor to the south, Nevada. We regularly saw the state bird in our yard at our home in the state’s largest city which is also the capital.

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.

Here in South Dakota the pheasant opener is a big deal. Officially it was yesterday, but the whole weekend is known as the opener around here. People have long-standing traditions around pheasant opener. They travel across the state to their favorite hunting places. There are family reunions, special events and long-standing traditions. The airports are crowded, their carousels are filled with shotguns, and the motels have been booked for months. We know that if we are going to schedule a church meeting for opening weekend we’d better not have it in Chamberlain or Pierre because there will be no motel rooms available. We notice the dip in church attendance on opening weekend. Some of our rural churches take advantage of the weekend to have fund-raising dinners. Feeding the hunters can be lucrative. Heck, I know a family that once delayed a funeral because of Pheasant opener.

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.

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