Why Montana Let Schoolchildren Pick Its State Bird

There's a fence post out past Shepherd I drive by often enough to know its resident by song alone. Before I ever see the bird, I hear that clear, bubbling whistle carry across the field, and I know exactly what's sitting up there. That sound is the Western Meadowlark, and Montana has a bunch of schoolchildren to thank for making it our official state bird.

The Vote Montana Kids Decided Without Any Adults

In 1930, Montana's schoolchildren were asked to pick the bird that best represented their state. The response came back overwhelmingly in favor of the Western Meadowlark, and the state legislature followed their lead the next session, making it official on March 14, 1931. It's written into Montana Code Annotated 1-1-504 to this day, word for word as the students chose it: the bird "preferred by a referendum vote of Montana school children."

I like that this wasn't handed down by a committee in Helena. It came from kids who heard that song on their walk to school and figured it belonged to Montana as much as they did.

Meriwether Lewis Heard It Before Montana Had a Name For It

The meadowlark's Montana story goes back further than 1930, though. Meriwether Lewis recorded the bird in his journal on June 22, 1805, describing a lark with a yellow breast and a black spot on the throat, its song richer than the eastern lark he already knew.

The Bird Hiding a Few Feet From Where You're Standing

A Western Meadowlark is a stocky bird, a bit bigger than a European Starling, with a bright yellow breast marked by a bold black V. Its back is streaked brown, built to disappear the second it drops into tall grass. It nests on the ground in open prairie and hayfields, which means the birds you're hearing on a drive through eastern Montana are raising families a few feet from where you're standing, hidden well enough that you'd walk right past the nest without knowing it.

a small yellow bird sitting on top of a wooden post

Montana Isn't the Only State That Claims This Song

Montana shares the meadowlark with five other states: Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. I don't think that diminishes it. A bird common enough to represent six different states says something about how much ground it actually covers, and how many people across the prairie West grew up with that same song in the background.

The Grain Scare That Almost Cost the Meadowlark Its Title

Farmers worried early on that the meadowlark might be eating their grain. A 1914 study put that fear to rest, showing the bird actually earns its keep by eating grasshoppers and other crop pests instead.

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Drive far enough into open country, and you'll hear one before you see it. Once you know the song, you can't unhear it.