Israel’s National Bird is Treif!
June 3, 2008
Some how I missed this last week. According to Reuters, the Hoopoe (biblical דוכיפת) has been named the national bird of Israel. The bird isn’t kosher. The Hoopoe is explicitly labeled שקץ in Lev 11.19 (cf. Deut 14.18).
I guess this makes a certain degree of sense. If your national bird isn’t kosher, there’s less of a chance of folks eating it or of it becoming an endangered species.
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Ketuvim: the Writings of James R. Getz Jr. 
interesting bird choice, not really because of the traif-ness, but just seems like a curious little bird to have such significinace. Do you know if it has any associations that would merit its use?