What is the mean looking bird on the reverse of a 2007 Idaho state quarter?
The coin features a Peregrine Falcon as the main device, with an outline of the State of Idaho to its lower right. The State Motto, Esto Perpetua, (“Let it be Perpetual,”) also appears. The choice of the Peregrine Falcon for the main design device on the Idaho Quarter strikes most people as being odd, and with good reason. The Peregrine Falcon isn’t even the Idaho State Bird; the Mountain Bluebird has this honor. Idaho is best known for its incomparable potatoes, and its pristine wilderness areas, both of which would have been popular design choices for the Idaho State Quarter. The Peregrine Falcon, while a noble and beautiful bird, has no particular resonance to the average Idaho citizen. This falcon is found living in the wild virtually the world over; it is native to every continent, except Antarctica. The apparent justification for this design choice is that a peregrine conservation organization based in Idaho is credited with doing a lot of work to save the Peregrine Falcon habita