Courtesy BushBobState bird fan Katherine B. Tippetts wrote, “Veery, a member of the Thrush family, is State Bird of Massachusetts” in the April 1932 issue of Nature Magazine. She credited the State Federation with selecting the veery, which was to be officially adopted by the “Next Legislature.” However, the legislature rejected the veery because it left each fall to winter in Florida.
In 1940, Life magazine printed portraits of all the state birds by renowned ornithologist and artist Roger Tory Peterson. Massachusetts was among the few states not represented. Perhaps it was this omission that spurred local ornithologists to action.
The Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Massachusetts Forest and Park Association responded with a bill to adopt the black-capped chickadee and American elm as state bird and tree. The reasons for adopting the elm and chickadee were not recorded. However, both are common in Massachusetts.
There were other suggestions. According to a brief article in the Press Herald, “The owl, that wise old bird, was hooted out. And the blue jay got scant consideration.” The same article states that Senator Nicholson (R-Wareham) suggested the red-headed woodpecker.
But the chickadee and elm were adopted on March 21, 1941. Just before Governor Saltonstall signed the bill, he was given a gift from Russ Burr, a well-known Hingham whittler. It was a wood carving of a chickadee.
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