Monday, June 14, 2010

What many do not know about Maryland


Maryland state bird: Baltimore oriole (it's beautiful to see these bright spots of sunshine in the forest)

Maryland state flower: Black eyed susan

Maryland state crustacean: Blue crab (believe me, if you go swimming in the summer in the Chesapeake Bay, you will understand why this is our state crustacean)

Maryland state insect: Baltimore checkerspot butterfly

Maryland state reptile: Diamondback terrapin (The Terrapins are also the name of Maryland University's basketball team)

Maryland state song: Maryland my Maryland (interestingly, this was written to encourage Maryland to join the Confederate States of America. Lee ordered his troops to sing this song as they marched through Frederick, but were given the cold shoulder since Frederick was staunchly for the Union)

Maryland state tree: White oak (we had the largest white oak tree in America, until it was blown down in 2002)

Maryland state dog: Chesapeake bay retriever

Maryland state boat: Chesapeake bay skipjack (incidentally, these are the last working sailboats in the US)

Maryland state sport: jousting (yes, that's right, baseball is just a little too modern for us)

And to top all
Maryland state dinosaur: Astrodon jonstoni

5 comments:

Ali said...

Wow, the U.S. has a lot of state symbols. The only symbol I can think of for B.C. is our provincial flag, coat of arms, and flower. I like your list!

Chopsticks on Oboe said...

That's pretty cool Ali, what is your provincial flower?

Jonas said...

That's awesome. I love random facts!

Maine hath not a state dinosaur... but I would recommend the north-woods mosquito.

Caitlin said...

Do you joust?

Chopsticks on Oboe said...

John: I think that the Maine mosquito could certainly be confused with some type of pterosaur to the untrained eye.

Caitlin: Unfortunately, jousting is an area of my Maryland-ness which remains undeveloped. Do you joust?