Kingfisher Mascot

On March 4th and 5th, the student body will have a chance to vote on the question “Should the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign adopt the Belted Kingfisher, an orange-and-blue bird native to Illinois, as the mascot for the University?” The University has not had a mascot since Chief Illiniwek was retired in 2007, 13 years ago.  The Belted Kingfisher is a new proposal, which is native to Illinois, is the school colors of Blue and Orange, and only the female Kingfisher is Blue and Orange so that it would be the first female mascot in the Big Ten. This funding will be used to spread awareness of the Kingfisher.