Branding the New State of South Florida: Vote for Our New State Song, Bird, Motto, and More
Last month, the City of South Miami passed a resolution calling for the area from Orlando and Tampa Bay to the Florida Keys to secede from the rest of the state to form America's 51st state: the state of South Florida. We, of course, love the idea (even if we had previously floated the idea of just Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and the Keys breaking off). 
However, there are a lot of details to consider when forming a new state -- like, well, state symbols. Clearly they are the most important part of all of this.
See also: South Miami Wants to Split Florida Into Two States, and the Entire Miami Media Missed It
Obviously, South Florida will take (or at least get joint custody of) things like the Florida panther, the manatee, and the alligator (the state animal, mammal, and reptile, respectively) in the separation settlement.
We'd be happy to leave other things to North Florida. The state song has a racist history, the state bird is particularly boring for a place with so many beautiful feathered fauna, and our state motto is just lazy. That would leave us with an opportunity to rebrand South Florida for the 21st Century.
You can vote on our suggestions below or write in your own candidates in the comments. We'll highlight some of the best ideas when we announce the winners this Monday.
Update: We switched out the poll service we were using, but don't worry, we still have the old votes accounted for.
The New State Bird
The fact that the mockingbird is the state bird of Florida has irked me since I was a child. It's a basic, unremarkable-looking creature, and four other states already have it as their official state avian. It's like the Toyota Camry of birds. Plus, Florida has a lot of crazy-looking birds that aren't found in many other places in the country. Why aren't one of those birds our state bird? We finally have a chance to correct this travesty of aviary honor.
Here are the options:
1. Flamingo
Photo: Valdiney Pimenta | WikiCommons
There's no other bird as aesthetically linked to South Florida as the flamingo, even if that aesthetic is a bit kitschy. We should also note that there are almost no more wild flamingos left in Florida. Sorry, flamingos! Would this make it up to you, or would you find it offensive?
2. Egret
Photo: JJ Harrison | WikiCommons
Florida has lots of striking, long-necked birds. The egret is one of the prettiest and also allows us to sidestep a flame war between University of Miami fans and haters (in my opinion, Sebastian's spot as Florida's top ibis should not be threatened).
3. Brown Pelican
Photo: Calibas | WikiCommons CC3.0
Here's another bird that's iconic in the Florida aesthetic. The only problem is that the brown pelican is lready the state bird of Louisiana.
4. Roseate Spoonbill
Photo by NASA | WikiCommons
Beautiful yet odd. Quite fitting, actually.
5. Sandpiper
Photo by Andrea Westmoreland's Flickr | CC2.0
They're cute!
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