Natural History Wanderings

Originally posted December 25, 2013

I recently learned that Berkeley’s official city bird is the Barn Owl. It became official on Tuesday April 25, 2006 and apparently was one of the least controversial decision ever made by the Berkeley City Council. To learn more about the story of how the Barn Owl became Berkeley’s city birds check out these two stories:

• How the Barn Owl became Berkeley’s official bird | Berkeleyside.
• Introducing Berkeley’s New City Bird: The Barn Owl. Category: Home & Garden Columns from The Berkeley Daily Planet.

I also did a little research (googled official city birds) and came up with the List of official city birds. Official City Birds are found all over the world.  Some other American cities with official birds are San Francisco’s  California Quail, Santa Monica’s Brown Pelican, Madison’s( Wisconsin) “Plastic Pink Flamingo” and Key West’s chicken.