Great blue heron bows to goldfinch as state bird

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.