April 09, 2001

or the robin?

Which will fly?

By Jim Grisso

Even the little black-capped bird. Chickadee-dee-dee.

For the second straight year, the Michigan House of Representatives is about to embark (as in the tree where the chickadee hangs out) on a high-flying debate pitting little bird against the big orange-breasted robin bird.

In case you're having one of those bird-brain moments, the robin has been the official state bird for 70 years. Some people would like to ruffle the robin's feathers by designating the chickadee as big bird in these parts. Chickadee-dee-dee.


Chickadee chirpers have been trying since 1950 to throw the robin out of its official state bird nesting place. But rockin' robin is still flying high.

The robin has been on its lofty perch since 1931 when the legislature, based on the results of a public survey conducted by the state Audubon Society, gave the early bird the worm.The robin won by a beak.

But the chickadee-dee-dee keeps hanging out there on a limb. In fact, legislation was proposed in 1999 to bring down the robin, but it laid an egg. Now comes our own state representative, Ken Bradstreet of Gaylord, who has once again sprung from the nest legislation making the chickadee top bird.

Ken told me Pete Petoskey of Lewiston, retired DNR wildlife division chief, had a chickadee fly down a petition to Lansing bearing 1,000 names, people who want to clip the robin's wings. Bradstreet said he thinks most of his colleagues will fly around the issue. The proposal didn't even get a hearing in 1999, but the Kirtland's warbler did. Some people wanted it as the state birdie.

What? How did the warbler get into this dog, er, bird fight? Send Kw back to the jack pines.

Petoskey and other chickadee-dee-dee proponents feel the public is riding on the wings of the chick. In a news release from the Conservation News Service, Petoskey cites these reasons:

* Unlike the robin, the chickadee doesn't turn chickendee but sticks around during Michigan's harsh winters like true Michiganders (Petoskey calls us that instead of Michiganians). Meanwhile, the robin flies off to some warm climate like the Caribbean and maybe drops in on a cruise liner.

* Chickadee-dee-dees are people friendly. They literally eat out of your hand. Robins are "noxious," says Petoskey. (They're obnoxious, too.)

* Chickadee food habits are beneficial to man and nature because they feed on eggs of tent caterpillars, gypsy moths and other critters that plague farmers and gardeners. In contrast, robins compete with fruit growers and with fishermen for angleworms.

How dare those robbin' robins!

Ken personally likes the little chickadee-dee-dee: "I spend a lot of time out in the woods, and they are all over the place." Do they ever eat out of your hand, Ken?

Ken says the last time the legislature went into this feather frenzy he received telephone calls from as far away as Texas (where the fire ant is the state bird).

My personal opinion on these two fine feathered friends?

The robin is smart for flying south every winter but a dodo bird for eating those despicable worms.

The chickadee-dee-dee isn't too bright for spending winters in Michigan, and I'm not sure I go for caterpillar eggs, but they do eat out of your hand, indicating a somewhat discriminating appetite.

I can't decide! I like both these birds.

Any crow lovers out there?

- Jim Grisso is publisher of the Herald Times, and can be reached at PO Box 598, Gaylord, MI 49734, or e-mail him at

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