Kentucky State Bird Cardinal TeeKentucky State Bird Cardinal Tee Kentucky's state bird earned its name from Catholic cardinals in their red robes a compliment that's held up for centuries. The Northern Cardinal is one of the few songbirds where both male and female sing, often matching phrases back and forth in a duet from the same thicket. In Kentucky, that rich whistled song carries through every season, the male blazing red against goldenrod the state flower going yellow along