First of all, everybody who cares deeply what Georgia’s state bird is, raise your hand. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

But bear with me. There’s a movement afoot to dump the state bird, the brown thrasher, in favor of that tasty feathered giant of Georgia agriculture, the Cornish chicken.

The effort is lead by Chris Cunningham, the Augusta owner of several Wife Saver restaurants, whose fried chicken box has been tailgating staple for decades. He says the chicken’s economic impact on Georgia is the single factor in his partly tongue-in-cheek drive to change state birds.

“The brown thrasher is the state bird,” Cunningham told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “What’s it ever done for the state of Georgia?” He makes his case for the Cornish chicken on an unfortunately named web site, flipthebirds.com, where videos both sing the praises of the chicken and point out the deficiencies of the brown thrasher when it comes to representing the state, using to comic effect the heavy-handed voiceovers of political attack ads.

Calling the Cornish chicken a “Southern cultural icon” and a “sustainer of Georgia’s economy,” the web site shows the chicken’s superior contribution to the state of Georgia. “The poultry industry annually contributes over $15.1 billion to the Georgia economy, including farmers, processing, and allied industries,” the site says. “Georgia’s broiler production is 16 percent of the nation’s total.”

On the other hand, the videos say, not only does the thrasher contribute nothing to the state’s economy or culture, it’s just passing through on the way south. “It’s migratory. That’s right, come winter, Georgia’s not good enough for the brown thrasher. Well, the brown thrasher’s not good enough for Georgia.”

Aside from getting a good laugh from the mock-serious attack-ad tone of the campaign’s videos, I’m not sure I could get behind the effort to “flip the birds,” even if I cared enough to burn brain cells over it. After all, most states have chosen wild birds for their state birds, not edible agricultural commodities like chickens. Two states do have chickens as their bird of choice -- Rhode Island’s got the Rhode Island Red and Delaware has the Blue Hen – but those distinctive barnyard fowl are the exception.

Cunningham’s video urges Georgia citizens to contact their state representatives in support of his effort. “It’s time to expect more from your state bird. E-mail your representative today, and let’s ruffle some feathers.” I’m tempted to say that our elected representatives have enough to worry about, but they’ve certainly dealt with sillier issues.

The good part is that Cunningham’s campaign has gotten attention across the nation, from the Los Angeles Times to the Wisconsin Ag Journal, and has raised awareness of the predominance of Georgia’s poultry industry.

I have to admit I certainly don’t mind honoring the chicken. In fact, we’ve had chicken as the guest of honor for at least three good meals this week. If Georgia had a “state main dish,” or even better, an official “state fried food,” the Georgiagrown chicken would be near the top of my list. But with the state bird designation might come a certain amount of reverence, causing some folks to become reluctant to cook up such an important cultural icon.

And that would be a frying shame.