Feb
25
2009

Birdscapes Tuesday Trivia, Answer #3

by Jessica Pellien | Filed in: Birds and Natural History | 2:31pm EST

Yesterday, we posted a trivia question:

What is the state bird of Tasmania?

A trick question! Tasmania is the only Australian state that does not have an official bird. From Birdscapes:

Australia has the emu as its national bird (it is thought never to take a step backwards) and the state birds are:

  • New South Wales: laughing kookaburra
  • Queensland: brolga (a large crane species)
  • Victoria: helmeted honeyeater (an endemic subspecies of the yellowtuftedhoneyeater—I wonder how many people in Melbourne could
    identify one?)
  • South Australia: Australian magpie
  • Western Australia: black swan
  • Northern Territory: wedge-tailed eagle
  • Australia Capital Territory: gang-gang cockatoo

Only Tasmania wouldn’t play this game (why don’t they settle for their subspecies, the clinking currawong?). But all these other states have a floral emblem too, and most have a mammalian one (in South Australia, it’s the hairy-nosed wombat).

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One Response

  1. On December 26th, 2009 at 10:56 pm june replied:

    Interesting. I thought the yellow wattle bird was the state bird of Tasmania. I’m Australian live in QLD and the Brolga runs rampant. There are even peakcocks here in QLD that you see mostly in the parks and the zoos native to NZ.