What Is the State Bird of Missouri? Eastern Bluebird Answer

Missouri's official state bird is the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), and that has been true since 1927 when the Missouri General Assembly passed legislation making it official.

If you need to confirm this for a school project, a trivia night, or just personal curiosity, the fastest and most reliable source is the Missouri Secretary of State's state symbols page, which lists the Eastern Bluebird by name alongside the relevant statute. The law itself, codified as RSMo Section 10.010, reads: 'The native bluebird (Sialia Sialis) is selected for and shall be known as the official bird of the state of Missouri.' Hard to get more official than that.

Why Missouri picked the bluebird back in 1927

The Missouri Legislature passed Senate Bill 321 on March 30, 1927, designating the bluebird as the state's official bird. The reasoning was pretty straightforward: the bird was common across Missouri, and it had long been considered a symbol of happiness. the Eastern Bluebird's red, white, and blue coloring The Missouri Department of Conservation also points out that the bird's red, white, and blue coloring gave it an extra layer of American symbolism that made it a natural fit for a state emblem.

The statute was later codified and given an effective date of August 28, 1957, but the original designation goes all the way back to 1927. So when someone asks what is Missouri's state bird and when that became official, the answer is the Eastern Bluebird, nearly a century ago.

What the Eastern Bluebird actually looks like

The Eastern Bluebird is a small thrush with a plump, rounded body and a short, straight bill. Once you know what to look for, it's genuinely easy to pick out of a crowd of birds. The male is the showier of the two: bright blue on top with a warm rust-colored throat, breast, and sides, and a clean white belly. Females are similar in shape but softer in color, with grayish-blue upperparts instead of the vivid blue the males carry.

The rust-plus-white-plus-blue combination is the fastest ID shortcut. If you see a small bird with those three colors arranged that way, you're almost certainly looking at an Eastern Bluebird. The only birds that sometimes cause confusion are the indigo bunting and the blue grosbeak, both of which are mostly solid blue without the rusty chest or white belly. The blue grosbeak is also noticeably chunkier with a large, triangular silvery bill, and the indigo bunting is smaller with a conical seed-cracker bill, so once you've seen all three side by side, the bluebird stands apart pretty clearly.

Listening for bluebirds

The song is a blurry, whistled series of notes, gentle and melodic rather than sharp or piercing. The call note is described as 'chuiree,' with a soft downward slide that rises slightly at the end. If you're out in a Missouri field in early spring and you hear something that sounds like a quiet, musical chatter coming from a fencepost, look up. That's often your first clue.

When and where to find them in Missouri

Eastern Bluebirds are present in Missouri year-round, though they're most reliably seen from mid-March through the end of November. In southern Missouri, they tend to stick around through winter. In the rest of the state, they're most active and visible in spring and summer, arriving at nesting sites as early as February. First eggs are typically laid in March, and the first broods of young birds fledge somewhere between April and May.

Habitat-wise, they love open areas. Grasslands with scattered trees, farmland edges, and rural backyards are classic bluebird territory. The Missouri Department of Conservation notes they seem to especially favor the rolling countryside of Missouri, where you can often spot them flitting from fencepost to fencepost on a bright spring morning. That's still one of the best images to hold in your head when you're looking for them: an open field, a wooden fencepost, a small bright-blue bird sitting upright on top of it.

How to attract Eastern Bluebirds to your yard

One thing that trips up a lot of people: bluebirds do not eat seeds. They won't show up at a standard bird feeder stocked with sunflower seeds or millet. If you've been wondering why you never see them at your feeders, that's almost certainly why. They're insect eaters, and they'll also take berries and fruit.

To actually bring them in close, the two most effective strategies are nest boxes and the right food. For food, the Missouri Department of Conservation suggests things like cornmeal cakes made with bacon drippings, dried or frozen berries, and raisins. These mimic what bluebirds naturally forage for, and placing them on a platform feeder or tray rather than a tube feeder works much better.

For nest boxes, placement and design matter. Bluebirds are cavity nesters but they face stiff competition from house sparrows and other aggressive species. University of Missouri Extension research points to specific nest box designs that help deter competitors, including boxes with a long, narrow slit opening at the top instead of a standard round hole. That kind of opening tends to be less attractive to house sparrows while still welcoming bluebirds. Putting up a properly designed bluebird box in an open area with a clear flight path, away from dense shrubs, gives you a solid chance of hosting a nesting pair each spring.

Missouri's state bird and flower, in case you need both

If you're looking up Missouri's state symbols as a package, the state flower is the White Hawthorn Blossom (Crataegus), designated in 1923. So the pairing is the Eastern Bluebird and the White Hawthorn Blossom. Both were chosen in the early 20th century as plants and animals that genuinely represented everyday Missouri life, which makes them feel a little more grounded than some state symbols chosen for purely political reasons.

Quick facts at a glance

If you want to go straight to the primary source, the Missouri Secretary of State's office maintains an official state symbols page that lists the Eastern Bluebird with the statute citation included. That's the most authoritative confirmation available, and it takes about thirty seconds to find. For classroom use or educational purposes, the Missouri Department of Conservation's bluebird profile and field guide pages are the most detailed free resources out there, with range maps, audio recordings of the calls, and nesting information all in one place.