State Bird and Flower Map of the United States

A beautiful celebration of America’s natural diversity.

This lovely pictorial map foregoes much geographic information in favor of a floral and avian focus. Soft colors and pictorial topography show stylistic features amid state borders, but otherwise the content is dedicated entirely to the official (and unofficial) birds and flowers of America. Illustrations capture each for all fifty states, the U.S., and the District of Columbia; with a list at the bottom providing a handy reference.

The idea for state birds was first ‘hatched’ by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in the 1920s, with Kentucky leading the way by designating the Northern Cardinal in 1926 (six additional states would claim the same bird). State flowers began even earlier, in the late 19th century when the Oklahoma Territory adopted mistletoe as the official floral emblem.

The map was based on artwork created by Fritz Hinton and published in Baltimore by Barton-Cotton, Inc. Dated around 1956, based on Alaska’s ptarmigan (official in 1955) and New Hampshire’s purple finch (official in 1957).

Source: USA Today; Texas Monthly; Insider