BIRDING -- The fish-eating great blue heron dwarfs seed-eating songbirds in size, but the diminutive willow goldfinch will continue to reign in greater stature as the Washington State Bird.

Proposals at the State Legislature to replace the finch with the GBH as the state bird didn’t get a hearing before last week's cuttoff in either the Senate or the House government committees, despite having a bill in each chamber.