Ornithologist wants vote on Britain’s favourite bird

America has the bald eagle, France has the Rooster and Britain has the …? Actually the country hasn’t got a national bird to call its own, or at least not yet.

The Robin is on the list to become Britain’s national bird. Image by f.c.franklin / CC BY 2.0

When ornithologist David Lindo noticed this, he decided to find Britain’s National bird and has now come up with a shortlist of the country’s favourite species.

Among those to have made that list are the robin, wren and blue tit, according to the Mail Online.

The 10 most popular birds now on the list aside from those already mentioned were the kingfisher, barn owl, blackbird, mute swan, puffin, red kite, and hen harrier.

Countries identify with their birds, Sweden uses the common blackbird while the green pheasant is close to the heart of Japanese people.

Although Britain is a nation of animal lovers, it is a bit of a shock to find it doesn’t have a bird to call its own.

Mr Lindo wants government backing so that the winner can be officially recognized as the country’s national bird. He was hopeful that the vote would encourage the public to join in by voting for their choice.

He says that it was great to see the hen harrier, almost extinct a few years ago, in the running though his preference would be for the blackbird because its singing reminded him of his days growing up.