Why is the willow ptarmigan (how is that pronounced) the state bird of alaska and the forget me not the flower

Thats a great question. Ptarmigan is pronounced tarmigan, the p is silent.





As to why the Ptarmigan is the state bird and the state flower is the forget-me-not, I have no idea, but I can tell you that the Ptarmigan was adopted as such in 1955 by the Territorial Government, and the Forget-Me-Not was adopted as the state flower in 1917.