What city's official bird is a plastic 🦩?
Saturday, June 8, 2024
Make every day more interesting. Each day a surprising fact opens a world of fascinating information for you to explore. Did you know that….? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
| Â | Original photo by DNY59/ iStock |
| Madison, Wisconsin's official bird is a plastic flamingo. | Wisconsinites are known for their love of cheese, so it's no surprise that the city of Madison's official bird is the invariably cheesy plastic flamingo. The lawn bird first "migrated" to town in 1979 as part of a prank on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Students awoke one day that September to find the school's Bascom Hill covered with 1,008 plastic flamingos, which had been placed there by the school government's Pail & Shovel Party. (The group was known for their absurdist stunts, including throwing a 10,000-person toga party and building a replica of the Statue of Liberty emerging from nearby Lake Mendota.) Yet it wasn't until 2009, after a successful lobbying campaign from local newspaper columnist Doug Moe, that the Madison City Council voted 15-4 in favor of designating the plastic flamingo as the official city bird. Councilwoman Marsha Rummel defended the decision against the four dissenters by saying, "If you don't have a little fun, [life's] not worth living." These days, the prank-turned-tradition is re-created each year as a fundraiser.
The plastic flamingo may be the lone official bird made of synthetic material, but it's far from the only one with a feel-good backstory. In 2019, the black-crowned night heron was declared the city bird of Oakland, California, thanks to a multiyear movement begun by a group of third graders who had been helping to rehabilitate local birds after an oil spill. On a statewide level, the California gull is — despite its name — the official bird of Utah, and was designated such to honor the gulls who saved malnourished Mormon pioneers in 1848 by eating the crickets then decimating local crops. In Japan, the green pheasant (kiji) was declared the national bird in 1947 in part because it's believed that the creatures can detect and warn of impending earthquakes — saving countless lives over the years.
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 | | A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance." | | |
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| A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance." |  |  |
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| The world's oldest flamingo lived to be __ years old. |  |
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 | Numbers Don't Lie |
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 | | Total budget of John Waters' 1972 cult film "Pink Flamingos" | | $12,000 |
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| | | Year the plastic flamingo was first designed | | 1957 |
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| | Different species of flamingos worldwide | | 6 |
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| | | Country whose national bird is the flamingo (The Bahamas) | | 1 |
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 | Flamingos are born a dull gray color and turn pink from their diet. |
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| A flamingo's defining characteristic is its bright pink appearance, but that trait is far from hereditary. In fact, flamingo chicks are born a dull gray shade, and develop their pinkish hue as they grow older. The colorful change is due to the birds' diet, which is high in beta-carotene. This red-orange pigment is found in various types of algae and brine shrimp that make up the bulk of a flamingo's meals. Enzymes in the bird's digestive system break down these pigments, which are then absorbed into the feathers and skin, turning most flamingos a striking pink hue. | | Â |
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posted by June Lesley at 5:19 AM
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