National Bird

How serious can people be about Grey Fantail? Seriously……. How many Australians would even know the name, let alone the bird? And (close to) no one outside Australia does. As for whether it is endemic, well does it matter? Very similar other species are in other countries. How Australian does it have to be? How many other countries have an eagle as their emblem? The southern cross on our flag is not even part of our solar system………the closest star is 88 light-years from Earth, the furthest 364 light-years away. At a quick look at the below site on wikipedia shows that many of the national birds are not endemic to the specific nation (as not many nations are islands). Back to Martin’s question. Surely most people already think the Emu & Red Kangaroo are our national symbols. Why bother selecting something else? The question is – what official standing does the Emu have as a “National Bird”. Going by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_birds apparently it doesn’t but what does that mean? If not, what is the administrative process to confirm this……… Why would any other species achieve any lesser administrative malaise? According to that list the Kiwi is not officially the National Bird of New Zealand either. Philip —–Original Message—– From: Birding-Aus [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@birding-aus.org] On Behalf Of Martin Butterfield Sent: Friday, 20 March 2015 7:10 PM To: birding-aus NEW Subject: [Birding-Aus] National Bird I had assumed it was the Emu as it features on our Coat of Arms. However I can’t find anything authoritative which confirms this or offers an alternative. Surely we have one? If not, I cry ‘Shime, shime ” and ask what can be done and by whom to get one. (For various reasons, if starting from scratch, my pick would be Galah.) Martin Butterfield http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/