The mockingbird has been Tennessee’s state bird for more than seven decades, but this fall the venerable avian symbol faces one of the toughest fights in its career. A cardinal advocacy group has identified the Tennessee mockingbird as one of its targets for defeat this fall. “We feel cautiously optimistic about our chances,” says Bob Mullins, national director of the Cardinals for America Project. “Our polling shows a lead of about six points in the vital ‘Which bird would you prefer to represent your state?’ question.” The cardinal, which is already the state bird of surrounding states Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky, has also picked up key endorsements from the chickadee and Western meadowlark. A $1,200-a-plate fundraiser last week at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza featured a flock of chickadees and meadowlarks and raised more than $1 million for Cardinal Tennessee ’06. In the original 1933 statewide election for state bird, the mockingbird beat back not only the cardinal, but also the robin and bluebird. A spokesman for the mockingbird camp is downplaying the redbird challenge. “We think that Tennesseans appreciate tradition and will stick with the bird that has represented our state honorably and without scandal for decades,” says Monique Adams. “The mockingbird truly represents Tennessee values. Maybe it’s not as flashy as the cardinal, but at least we don’t stoop to fundraisers involving the chickadee, the state bird of Yankee states like Massachusetts and Maine.” The cardinal camp retaliated by spreading the rumor that Don Sundquist had endorsed the mockingbird, a charge the mockingbird camp denies. A local observer of bird politics says that the campaign will only get rougher. “This is going to draw a lot of people to the polls in November, and it looks like a really close race. Not since the Eastern box turtle beat out the salamander for state amphibian have we seen a race this close.”
