The threatened Florida Scrub-Jay would replace the Northern Mockingbird as Florida’s official state bird if a new bill filed in the legislature becomes law.
Sen. Tina Polsky, a Democrat from Boca Raton, filed SB 162 earlier this month in her attempt to elevate the Florida Scrub-Jay. It would remove the Mockingbird, which has been the Sunshine State’s official bird since 1927.
Polsky’s bill noted that the Scrub-Jay is the only bird species that lives exclusively in Florida. It can found be in small habitats of low-growing scrub oak and sandy soils across Central Florida, from the Ocala National Forest south to near Lake Okeechobee.
The Northern Mockingbird, meanwhile, can be found in every state across the continental U.S. in addition to most of Mexico and parts of the Caribbean.
“Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Florida Scrub-Jay is also protected as a threatened species by the federal Endangered Species Act and as a federally designated threatened species by the Florida Endangered and Threatened Species rule,” Polsky’s bill explained.
Polsky filed a similar bill last year that failed, but it did garner the support of a group of Seminole High School students who were advocating for the Florida Scrub-Jay.
“Since the Scrub-Jay is found only in Florida, it should be chosen as the state bird without a doubt,” Navya Sharma, a senior at Seminole High, told the Sentinel in December 2022. She said she hoped the state’s designation would bring attention to preserving the threatened bird’s natural scrub habitat.
While the legislature didn’t adopt the Scrub-Jay measure last year, the students were able to get Seminole County commissioners make it the county’s official feathered creature.
