The Detroit News. A bill in the state House of Representatives would name the black-capped chickadee as the state bird.
Chickadee fans call their bird winsome and friendly.
The chickadee controversy, smile-inducing as it is, also provides a civic lesson or two. One obvious point is that Michigan government is responsive. Fifteen-thousand signatures is not a lot in state of 9 million. The Legislature did not declare itself to be a full-time job until recent decades. The chickadee bill suggests the politicians in Lansing may have upgraded their status prematurely.