Kitabı oku: «Bird Brain: Over 2,400 Questions to Test Your Bird Knowledge»

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Preface

History of Birdfair

30 Years of Global Impact

General Knowledge Questions

Specialist Questions

General Knowledge Answers

Specialist Answers

About the Book

About the Publisher

Preface
Bird Brain of Britain 2018

The Bird Brain of Britain competition at the Birdfair began in 1992 with the title Mastermind and it roughly followed the BBC’s successful programme of the same name. Distinguished ornithologists (Chris Mead, Janet Kear, Nigel Collar and Chris Harbard) volunteered to compete and Bill Oddie was the natural question master. It was a success and has continued ever since. The snappier title Bird Brain of Britain was thought of for 1995 and so it has remained. Leading ornithologists continued to ‘volunteer’ and Bill Oddie continued to grill them, for all but two of the next eighteen years, when Chris Packham was Inquisitor. In the last few years others filling the Torquemada role have been, besides Bill and Chris, Nick Baker, Mike Dilger and Stephen Moss.

The contestants set the Specialist questions (in theory). They are asked to provide ten questions each for the other three contestants so that there are thirty questions to ask. In practice, some questions are the same, some are unaskable and some are not absolutely correct. I have set the General Knowledge questions for the last eighteen years. I am uncertain who really set the questions in the early years before I was involved, but I was under the impression that Tim Dixon set them. However, as he won the 1993 contest, either somebody else did or …

The original competition was intended to be educational fun, but birders’ inherent competitiveness got in the way and it is now a cut-throat battle, the more so since a pecuniary prize of £2,000 was provided by the Catalan Tourist Board in 2007 and subsequently by Vanguard and Swarovski Optik. This is divided into £1,000 for the winner’s organization, £500 for second and £250 each for third and fourth. For the first ten years the contestants represented conservation organizations, namely the RSPB, BTO, BOU, BirdLife International, WWT and the Wildlife Trusts. Then other organizations were invited to put forward a hapless volunteer. The four regional bird clubs, ornithological journals, travel companies and optics companies provided cannon-fodder until 2007. Since 2007 contestants have represented the four regional bird clubs – African Bird Club (ABC), Neotropical Bird Club (NBC), Oriental Bird Club (OBC) and Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME), with BTO replacing NBC since 2012.

In 2004 we produced a book of the first twelve years and it was suggested another book covering the next fourteen years was fitting for the thirtieth Birdfair. Ornithology has changed quite a lot in the intervening years, with much greater knowledge about birds being acquired, much of it through the use of modern technology. This technology has resulted in frequent revisions of taxonomic classification, much of it confusing to more senior birders, and probably younger ones too. The Handbook of Birds of the World and BirdLife International Checklist seems to me the most rational taxonomy to follow, and is certainly the most user friendly, and so this has been adopted in this book. As a consequence there are quite a number of revised answers, as the original answers, though right at the time, may now be wrong, or at least different. This has been indicated to avoid confusion (with luck). Grey italic is used in the answers section (and a few in the questions too), to indicate the additions and changes.

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List categories of threatened birds are frequently mentioned and I have used the recognised abbreviations for the different categories, namely EX, for Extinct; EW, for Extinct in the Wild; CR, for Critically Endangered; CR (PE), for Critically Endangered Possibly Extinct; CR (PEW), for Critically Endangered Possibly Extinct in the Wild; EN, for Endangered; VU, for Vulnerable; NT, for Near Threatened; LC, for Least Concern; and DD for Data Deficient. The term Globally Threatened refers to the CR, EN and VU categories.

31st March 2018 was my cut-off date for updating. In the quiz some leeway has been given to the contestants for date and numerical answers, usually about 10 per cent, but this has been omitted in this book.

I have endeavoured to check and correct and update as many of the questions and answers as possible, particularly with taxonomic changes and matters of fact, particularly regarding a bird’s status. However, some answers I cannot verify and others I will have got wrong, and, of course, there will be some with which you do not agree. I accept full responsibility for all these errors of omission and commission. I have sometimes added a comment or an extra gobbet of information which I think is interesting or encouraging or depressing, but I have tried to keep my views to a minimum.

History of Birdfair

The concept of Birdfair was hatched in a local pub in Hambleton close to the shores of Rutland Water way back in 1987. Little did we realise all those years ago that this would start a trend of Birdfair’s across the globe.

The aim of Birdfair was to provide a market place for the growing ‘industry’ of birdwatching, be a meeting place for wild-life enthusiasts and to support a conservation project. Thirty years on Birdfair is the world’s largest wildlife event, bringing together over 70 countries and hosting almost 25,000 visitors annually. Birdfair has supported and funded global conservation projects from as far afield as Vietnam to Cuba, Ethiopia to Peru, Myanmar to Argentina. To date almost five million pounds has been donated to BirdLife projects in these areas – an incredible achievement for a three-day event!

On the commercial side Birdfair provides a platform for launching new products from optics, to bestselling natural history books to exotic wildlife holidays. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises has been the growth in eco-tourism – Birdfair is recognised as the ‘event’ to attend if you are contemplating a wildlife experience of a lifetime. Almost 50 per cent of the 395 stands offer individual and group trips. Although still dubbed as The Birdfair, wildlife organisations also attend representing bats, frogs, plants, butterflies, badgers and more.

Birdfair is more than just a hotspot for the commercial side of Birdwatching, thousands of visitors enjoy a weekend of entertainment. From the moment the gates open until way into the evening there are lectures, games, quizzes, talks, films, debates all supported by our wildlife celebrities. The Wild Zone provides younger visitors with the opportunity to engage directly with the fantastic wildlife of Rutland Water Nature Reserve, whether watching Ospreys, cruising on the water, pond dipping, bug hunting or just enjoying our annual wildlife Pantomime!

BirdBrain of Britain now in its 26th year attracts a huge audience, and thanks to generous sponsorship has helped the participating wildlife clubs raise tens of thousands of pounds for conservation projects in their regions.

The local economy is also a winner, as more and more visitors are staying for the whole three days. Hotels, B&Bs, Campsites, school boarding houses, restaurants bulge to capacity bringing huge financial benefits.

Over the years Birdfair has evolved bringing new attractions such as the highly successful Birdfair Auction raising well over £200,000, the Authors forum and the local produce tent. However none of this would have been achieved without the dedication of our staff and an incredible team of 470 volunteers.

From dawn to dusk for weeks before, during the event and for days after the crowds have left, this wonderful group can be justifiably proud that over the past 30 years they have played their part in creating and running the World’s largest Wildlife Event.

30 Years of Global Impact

Every year for the past three decades, the proceeds from Birdfair have gone to a conservation project, selected and managed by the conservation charity BirdLife International. Through your support, these projects have helped to secure a future for some of the world’s most threatened bird species and habitats – here are the highlights …

Year: 1989

Project name: ICBP Stop the Massacre Campaign

Birds that benefit: Migratory birds in the Mediterranean, focusing on the European Robin Erithacus rubecula

Amount raised: £3,000 ICBP (rebranded BirdLife in 1993) aimed to tackle hunting and trapping with the first Birdfair project. Birdfair supported an education programme lead by BirdLife Malta, which generated a huge amount of publicity and media coverage in Malta. However, the battle to end illegal bird killing is ongoing.

Year: 1990

Project name: Helping Save Spain’s Doñana National Park

Birds that benefit: Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus, Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus

Amount raised: £10,000

Already beleaguered by agriculture and tourism, Doñana wetlands faced its biggest threat with the proposal of a huge tourist development: ‘Costa Doñana’. Birdfair funded a concerted campaign led by SEO/BirdLife (BirdLife in Spain) which successfully halted the development, and financed a visitor centre to promote ecotourism.

Year: 1991

Project name: Danube Delta

Birds that benefit: Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus (NT), White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocepala (EN), Pygmy Cormorant Microcarbo pygmaeus

Amount raised: £20,000 The Danube Delta’s incredible wetlands suddenly escaped the threat of drainage when the new administration declared it a World Heritage Site and a Ramsar Site. However, new wardens lacked basic equipment. Birdfair funded the provision of binoculars, boat engines, bird hides and other essential kit.

Year: 1992

Project name: ICBP Spanish Steppes Appeal

Birds that benefit: Great Bustard Otis tarda (VU), Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax (NT), Dupont’s Lark Chersophilus duponti (NT)

Amount raised: £30,000 Despite supporting three-quarters of the world’s Little Bustards, Spain’s sweeping grasslands faced destruction by large-scale irrigation schemes funded by the EU. The Spanish Steppes campaign was one of the first truly effective examples of European-level collaborative conservation across the newly remodelled BirdLife International partnership.

Year: 1993

Project name: BirdLife International Polish Wetlands

Birds that benefit: Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola (VU), Corncrake Crex crex

Amount raised: £40,000 Birdfair funded the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP, BirdLife partner) to update its directory of wetland IBAs (Important Bird and Biodiversity Area) and seek effective protection for these areas. Funds also went towards Poland’s first reserve in the Swina Estuary to protect Aquatic Warblers. Such efforts have slowed this species’ decline in central Europe.

Year: 1994

Project name: Project Halmahera

Birds that benefit: Standardwing Bird-of-paradise Semioptera wallacii

Amount raised: £41,000 In 1994, Halmahera was the largest Indonesian island not to possess any National Parks or other protected areas. Focusing on this little-known tropical paradise raised much-needed awareness. Birdfair funded research to pinpoint priority areas for protection. Sadly, civil unrest in the area disrupted the process, but BirdLife clung on, and the first National Park was declared in 2004.

Year: 1995

Project name: Moroccan Wetlands Project

Birds that benefit: Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris (CR), Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris (VU), Audouin’s Gull Larus audouinii (NT)

Amount raised: £45,000 Sandwiched between sea and desert, the wetlands along the Moroccan coast are a lifeline for migrating waterbirds. But they are also under pressure from human use. Birdfair funded the better management of key sites along this route, including school and community engagement programmes.

Year: 1996

Project name: Ke Go Forest Project

Birds that benefit: Edwards’s Pheasant Lophura edwardsi (CR), Crested Argus Rheinardia ocellata (NT), Red-collared Woodpecker Picus rabieri (NT)

Amount raised: £50,000 Ke Go is the last remaining block of lowland forest in central Vietnam. In 1996, with the publicity and financial backing of Birdfair, the site was declared a nature reserve. BirdLife continues to work in this area to combat the ever-present threat of illegal logging.

Year: 1997

Project name: Mindo Important Bird Area Project

Birds that benefit: Black-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis nigrivestis (CR), Andean Cock-of-the-rock Rupicola peruvianus

Amount raised: £60,000 In 1997, with the help of Birdfair, Ecuador’s incredibly species-rich Mindo cloud-forest was declared the first IBA in the whole of South America, launching BirdLife’s IBA programme in that continent. BirdLife worked with the local community, developing ecotourism as an alternative livelihood to destructive agriculture.

Year: 1998

Project name: BirdLife International Threatened Birds Programme

Birds that benefit: Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis (CR), Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea (CR), Whooping Crane Grus americana (EN)

Amount raised: £120,000 With one in eight bird species threatened with extinction, Birdfair funded research to gather up-to-date information on their populations, creating the landmark book Threatened Birds of the World. This sparked public and political awareness and established BirdLife as the avian authority for the IUCN Red List.

Year: 1999

Project name: Rescuing Brazil’s Atlantic Forests

Birds that benefit: Seven-coloured Tanager Tangara fastuosa (VU), Alagoas Antwren Myrmotherula snowi (CR), Bahia Tyrannulet Phylloscartes beckeri (EN)

Amount raised: £130,000 43 of Brazil’s 103 threatened bird species depend on its dwindling Atlantic forests. The 1999 Birdfair project aimed to preserve them. Successes included Murici Forest being declared an Ecological Station. BirdLife’s activity in this country eventually led to the formation of the NGO SAVE Brazil, now a BirdLife partner.

Year: 2000

Project name: Save the Albatross Campaign – Keeping the World’s Seabirds off the Hook

Birds that benefit: Seabirds including the Wandering Albatross Diomeda exulans (VU)

Amount raised: £122,000 Albatrosses are the most threatened group of seabird, and one of the biggest threats is death on the baited hooks of long-line fisheries. Birdfair funded the launch of the Global Seabird Programme, which paved the way for BirdLife’s highly successful Albatross Task Force.

Year: 2001

Project name: Eastern Cuba – Saving a Unique Caribbean Wilderness

Birds that benefit: Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis (CR – possibly still present in Cuba), Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae (NT)

Amount raised: £135,000 Cuba hosts 350 bird species, including the world’s smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird (weighing only 2 grams). Birdfair funded vital research, providing field equipment and setting up Cuba’s IBA network, which went on to attract conservation funding for the whole Caribbean.

Year: 2002

Project name: Saving the Last Lowland Rainforests in Sumatra

Birds that benefit: Red-naped Trogon Harpactes kasumba (NT)

Amount raised: £147,000 Birdfair funded the then newly formed BirdLife partner Burung Indonesia to identify priority areas of Sumatra’s dwindling lowland rainforest for protection. After intense lobbying, the government issued the very first forest restoration licence to preserve one such forest from logging and monoculture. This paved the way for BirdLife’s Harapan (‘hope’) Rainforest Project.

Year: 2003

Project name: Saving Madagascar’s Fragile Wetlands

Birds that benefit: Madagascar Fish-eagle Haliaeetus vociferoides (CR), Sakalava Rail Zapornia olivieri (EN), Madagascar Heron Ardea humbloti (EN)

Amount raised: £157,000 The plight of Madagascar’s forests is well publicised, but its wetlands are also of huge conservation importance. This project engaged local people who use the wetlands, working with governments, communities and businesses to draw up legal agreements. These have now expanded into two Protected Areas.

Year: 2004

Project name: Saving Northern Peru’s Dry Forests

Birds that benefit: White-winged Guan Penelope albipennis (CR), Marvelous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis (EN), Long-whiskered Owlet Xenoglaux loweryi (EN)

Sandwiched between the Andes, the Sechura Desert and the Pacific Ocean, this isolated, enigmatic region is one of the top ten most biologically unique areas of the planet. Sadly, only 5% of its original range survives. Birdfair funded several successful, locally targeted community-based conservation projects.

Year: 2005

Project name: Saving Gurney’s Pittas and their Forest Home

Birds that benefit: Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyi (EN)

Amount raised: £200,000 For much of the last century, Gurney’s Pitta was thought to be lost. The discovery of a population several hundred strong in Myanmar’s lowland forests was a fantastic event – but also an urgent one, with the forest threatened by clearance for oil palm plantations. Despite political unrest in the area, Birdfair-funded fieldwork greatly advanced our understanding of this bird.

Year: 2006

Project name: Saving the Pacific’s Parrots

Birds that benefit: New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema (CR), Rimatara Lorikeet Vini kuhlii (EN), Ouvea Parakeet Eunymphicus uvaeensis (EN)

Amount raised: £215,000 Islandbirds are at greater risk from extinction, especially from invasive species. Birdfair funded conservation across the Pacific region, focusing on six threatened parrot species. A major success involved Rima Lorikeets being reintroduced to their original home island of Aitu, where they now thrive.

Year: 2007

Project name: BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme (PEP)

Birds that benefit: Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis (CR), Djibouti Francolin Pternistis ochropectus (CR), Belding’s Yellowthroat Geothlypis beldingi (now VU)

Amount raised: £226,000 Birdfair helped to kick-start BirdLife’s ambitious initiative to prevent Critically Endangered birds from slipping away. A highly effective network linked Species Champions (companies, organisations or individuals providing vital funds to save a species) with Species Guardians (leading targeted action on the ground).

Year: 2008

Project name: BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme

Birds that benefit: Araripe Manakin Antilophia bokermanni (CR), Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarious (CR), Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina (now VU)

Amount raised: £265,000 Building on the previous year’s success, a further six Critically Endangered birds were highlighted, and the search for Species Champions to ‘adopt’ them proved very successful. Birdwatch magazine devoted itself to the Azores Bullfinch, and Sir David Attenborough himself took on the Araripe Manakin.

Year: 2009

Project name: BirdLife International PEP: ‘Lost and Found’

Birds that benefit: Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi (CR), Makira Moorhen Pareudiastes silvestris (CR)

Amount raised: £263,000 Birdfair funded the PEP to establish whether 15 ‘lost’ species survived in the wild – thus informing conservation decisions. A successful example was the search for the Fiji Petrel, which uncovered 8 individuals. The PEP programme has gone on to appoint 46 Species Guardians, protecting 59 Critically Endangered birds.

Year: 2010

Project name: Southern Ethiopian Endemics

Birds that benefit: Liben Lark Heteromirafra archeri (CR), Ethiopian Bushcrow Zavattariornis stresemanni (EN), White-tailed Swallow Hirundo megaensis (VU)

Amount raised: £243,000 Ethiopia’s endemic birds are increasingly threatened. Birdfair funded the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (BirdLife partner) to work with locals to preserve the Liben Lark’s tiny grassland range. Furthermore, Yavello Protected Area was upgraded to National Park status, aiding the White-tailed Swallow and Ethiopian Bushcrow.

Year: 2011

Project name: BirdLife International Flyways Programme – African–Eurasian Flyway

Birds that benefit: Eurasian Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos, European Turtledove Streptopelia turtur (Now VU)

Amount raised: £227,000 In the first year of Birdfair support for BirdLife’s Flyways Programme, the project focused on well-known birds breeding in Europe but overwintering in sub-Saharan Africa. Birdfair helped the Ghana Wildlife Society to raise awareness, and a new flyway action plan was spearheaded by the Ghanaian government.

Year: 2012

Project name: BirdLife International Flyways Programme – East Asia–Australasian Flyway

Birds that benefit: Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea (CR), Spotted Greenshank Tringa guttifer (EN), Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor (EN)

Amount raised: £200,000 This year’s project empowered partners across East Asia to protect key wetlands, used by 50 million migratory waterbirds but encroached upon by human expansion. The Gulf of Martaban in Myanmar – used by half of all Spoon-billed Sandpipers – was declared a Ramsar site.

Year: 2013

Project name: BirdLife International Flyways Programme – Americas Flyway (Prairies to Pampas)

Birds that benefit: Bobolink Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Swainson’s Hawk Buteo swainsoni, Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis (now NT)

Amount raised: £270,000 Across the Americas’ grasslands, traditional ranching is giving way to intensive livestock rearing. Birdfair 2013 focused on supporting partners in South America’s Southern Cone, with initiatives such as ‘bird-friendly’ beef certification, and protecting sites of importance for grassland-dependent birds.

Year: 2014

Project name: Saving the Seas and Oceans

Birds that benefit: Macaroni Penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus, Audouin’s Gull Larus audouinii, Pycroft’s petrel Pteodroma pycrofti

Amount raised: £280,000 Oceans cover 70 percent of the earth’s surface, yet conservation actions for marine areas lag far behind those for other environments. Birdfair funded efforts by BirdLife partners’ policy staff looking to increase marine conservation. The project was based in Europe and Africa but also included efforts to protect Antarctica and the High Seas.

Year: 2015

Project name: Protecting Migratory Birds in the Eastern Mediterranean

Birds that benefit: White stork Ciconia ciconia, Red Knot Calidris canutus, Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Amount raised: £320,000 Roughly 25 million migratory birds are killed illegally each year as they cross the Mediterranean. In order to combat this problem, BirdLife International worked to reduce the scale and impact of the illegal killing by advocating for the strengthening of protective laws throughout the region.

Year: 2016

Project name: Saving Africa’s Important Bird/Biodiversity Areas in Africa

Birds that benefit: Brown Mesite Mesitornis unicolor, Madagascar Blue-pigeon Alectroenas madagascariensis, Red-fronted Coua Coua reynaudii

Amount raised: £350,000 Forest loss is a severe problem across the African continent, and one that is hugely detrimental to birds, as more than two-thirds of species can be found in forests. In order to protect these crucial habitats, the 2016 Birdfair project focused on Tsitongambarika Forest. The area features many endemic species, which makes it biologically extraordinary, even by Madagascar’s lofty standards.

Year: 2017

Project name: Saving Paradise in the Pacific

Birds that benefit: Rapa Fruit-dove Ptilinopus huttoni, Newell’s Shearwater Puffinus newelli Polynesian Storm Petrel Nesofregetta fuliginosa

Amount raised: 333,000 On the French Polynesian island of Rapa Iti, invasive non-native species are decimating populations of native birds. Money from Birdfair will help BirdLife to remove invasive species in order to restore the islands to their former glory.

Year: 2018

Project name: A Haven for Argentina’s Flamingos

Birds that benefit: Andean Flamingo Phoenicoparrus andinus, Chilean Flamingo Phoenicopterus chilensis, Puna Flamingo Phoenicoparrus jamesi

Amount raised: TBC This year, we’re turning Birdfair pink – to celebrate plans to create what will become Argentina’s largest National Park, and a safe haven for over a million waterbirds, including three species of flamingos.

2004 A
Martin Collinson – British Birds
Answers: see here

1  Name a bird named after Francesco Cetti.

2  Name three of the signatory nations that have ratified the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) under the Bonn Convention which came into force on 1 Febuary 2004.

3  Why specifically has the House Martin been neutered?

4  In which year did British Birds introduce the Monthly Marathon?

5  What size of ring would you use to ring a Goldcrest?

6  What was the population of the Critically Endangered Tumbesian endemic Pale-headed Brush-finch thought to be in 2003?

7  ‘Wettergulp’ and ‘pikgulp’ were names used by professional Dutch birdcatchers for two waders that wintered in Holland. What species are they thought to be?

8  What is the general colour of most Hippolais warbler eggs?

9  What rank was Jacob the Goose, the mascot of the Coldstream Guards (until the last one was run over in the Mall)?

10  Which of the following does not exist: Rufous-collared Sparrow, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Rufous-chested Sparrow or Rufous-crowned Sparrow?

11  What happened to British Birds in January 1999?

12  What eagle is named after the fearsome winged monsters of classical mythology, Aellopus and Ocypete?

13  What disease spread to America from Africa in 1999 and is a significant threat to many species of American bird?

14  Which artist designed the 1980 issue of Great Britain stamps, featuring Kingfisher, Dipper, Moorhen and Yellow Wagtail?

15  In which year was British Birds first published?

16  What is the resting heart rate of an Ostrich?

17  What bird may be known as a Bodfforchog in Wales and a Salmon-tailed Gled in Scotland?

18  How many Siberian Cranes wintered in Iran last year?

19  What Vulnerable seabirds were taken from Tristan da Cũnha by a South African zookeeper with Foreign Office approval in the past year?

20  In what country, other than Thailand, has Gurney’s Pitta been rediscovered (where it is inevitably threatened with deforestation for oil-palm cultivation)?

2004 B
Peter Wilkinson – BTO News
Answers: see here

1  Name a bird named after George Montagu.

2  Which species of extant albatross was found fossilised on Bermuda having been extinguished 400,000 years ago by a sea-level rise?

3  In which year was BTO News first published?

4  According to local Peruvian folk lore, what properties does the dried heart of the Endangered Marvellous Spatuletail possess?

5  Three Sedge Warblers, ringed at Litlington, Sussex, in August 2002, were recovered in Finisterre, France, in August 2003. What was remarkable about that?

6  Which of the following does not exist: Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Eastern Double-collared Sunbird or Western Double-collared Sunbird?

7  Why has a cock Ptarmigan had his male pride pricked?

8  What size ring would you use to ring a Tree Sparrow?

9  What was the subtitle carried by BTO News until dropped in May 1981?

10  What or who are the ‘Screaming Eagles’?

11  Where is a bird’s pygostyle?

12  Why were three White Pelicans removed from St James’s Park in London in 1982?

13  Which British breeding warbler lays unmarked brick-red eggs?

14  What organism produces the toxin that causes outbreaks of botulism in waterbirds?

15  What was the first bird to be depicted on a stamp of Great Britain on the 1946 ‘Victory’ issue 3d stamp?

16  What is the colour of the bill of a downy Water Rail chick?

17  What is the chief threat to the continued existence of the Blue Swallow in South Africa?

18  What connected Battersea Power Station, Chichester Cathedral, Gloucester City Hospital and Nottingham Trent University ornithologically in 2003?

19  What non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug is strongly implicated in the catastrophic decline in Indian vultures?

20  When does the shooting season for Snipe begin?

2004 C
Chris Harbard – Birdwatch
Answers: see here

1  Name a bird named after Jean François Emmanuel Baillon.

2  What size ring would you use to ring a Blackbird?

3  How much is the annual UK subscription to Birdwatch magazine, to the nearest pound?

4  Which species, which was lost to Ireland in the 17th century, does the Irish Wildlife Trust hope to reintroduce with nestlings from Wales?

5  The chief threats, as listed in Threatened Birds of the World, are the same for 13 out of 14 of the Globally Threatened species that occur only in the Tumbesian region. What are the threats?

6  Why are some German Nightingales now breaking the law?

7  What species, previously presumed extinct, was glimpsed and heard by a group of birders on Savai’i in Samoa on 5th October 2003?

8  Who was the Assistant Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum in the early 19th century who destroyed many priceless specimens on bonfires because he deemed them ‘unwanted’ or ‘badly preserved’, but who nonetheless has a British seabird named after him?

9  Which of the following does not exist: Laughing Dove, Whistling Dove, Weeping Dove or Mourning Dove?

10  In which year was Birdwatch magazine first published?

11  What is the cloacal temperature of the little-known Hooded Gnatcatcher, as recorded in the Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 8?

12  Which muscle is the largest in a bird’s body and provides most of the force of the downstroke in flapping flight?

13  In which species of seabird was puffinosis first described?

14  What colour are Great Crested Grebe’s eggs when newly laid?

15  What bird is depicted on the 2004 South Korean postage stamp, which also depicts the Tokto Islets, which Japan claims as Japanese territory, thereby leading to political squabbling?

16  Apart from Woodpeckers, what other family has Ivory-billed, Lineated, Striped and Bar-bellied species?

17  In addition to habitat loss and degradation, what other threat is considered to be significant for the Rufous-headed Chachalaca in the Tumbesian region?

18  Which tail feathers are elongated in adult Long-tailed Skuas?

19  Which bird features on the badges of the Wiltshire Girl Guides and the Royal School of Artillery, has a pub in Lavington, Wiltshire, named after it and is being reintroduced onto Salisbury Plain?

20  By how much is the shooting season for Woodcock in Scotland longer than in England and Wales?

2004 D
Dave Nurney – Bird Watching
Answers: see here

1  Name a bird called after Gilbert White.

2  What is thought to have caused the skewing of the Wandering Albatross population on Prince Edward Island in favour of males?

3  In which year was Bird Watching magazine first published?

4  In addition to habitat loss and degradation, what particularly threatens the Critically Endangered Tumbesian endemic Pale-headed Brush-finch?

5  What species was thought to have a world population of 67,000 birds until 2.5 million were counted at Eighty Mile Beach in northwest Australia in February 2004?

6  What size ring would you use to ring a Tawny Owl?

7  Which of the following does not exist: Inaccessible Rail, Inexorable Rail, Invisible Rail or Snoring Rail?

8  In the first ever issue of Bird Watching magazine, what was the title of the article on twitching written by an extremely well-known TV personality (who doesn’t twitch)?

9  Where did the extinct pigeon, the Liverpool Pigeon Caloenas maculata, live?

10  How many chambers does the avian heart have?

11  Which Founder of a great Cambridge College first described the Dotterel as ‘morinellus’ – a little fool?

12  What do Glossy Ibis, Starling, Redstart and Dunnock eggs all have in common?

13  Who killed the Stymphalian Birds?

14  The medical condition of eating unusual substances such as dry paint, coal, excrement etc. shares a name with a common British bird’s Latin name. What is it?

15  What were the six geese doing on the 1977 Great Britain Christmas 7p stamp?

16  What species of wader bred in Wales for the first time in 2003?

17  When was the mysterious never-been-seen-in-the-wild Long-whiskered Owlet discovered?

18  How many nests have been recorded in the BTO’s Nest Record Scheme in its first 65 years?

19  What was the BTO’s Nest Record Scheme originally called?

20  Which feathers are grossly elongated on the wing of the breeding male Pennant-winged Nightjar?

2005 A
David Fisher – Sunbird
Answers: see here

1  What colour is the bill of an adult Red-legged Partridge?

2  What is the least numerous breeding English corvid?

3  What is ‘the Skylark Index’?

4  If you saw a Balbuzard pêcheur in France, what would you be watching?

5  To publicise the plight of which threatened group of birds did John Ridgway sail round the world in 2003/04 in English Rose VI?

6  Which European country has the largest breeding population of Stonechats?

7  What unfortunate slogan did the charity Animal Aid use to alert people to their feelings about the National Cage and Aviary Birds Exhibition at Stoneleigh in 2004?

8  The range of the Wood Duck in North America falls completely within the range of which unrelated species (upon which it is dependent for successful breeding)?

9  When was Gurney’s Pitta last recorded in Myanmar prior to its rediscovery there in 2003?

10  A Razorbill ringed at Bardsey in 2004 had previously been ringed 32, 42 or 52 years before?

11  750,000 eggs of which species are harvested annually in a supposedly sustainable manner in the Seychelles?

12  Who wrote Birds of Burma published in Rangoon in 1940 (and the UK in 1953)?

13  Which species, ringed in Britain, had the most recoveries away from the site of ringing in 2003?

14  Which of the following does not exist – Musician Wren, Harpist Wren, Flutist Wren or Happy Wren?

15  Which close relative of the Okinawa Rail was discovered on 11th May 2004 on the Babuyan Islands in the Philippines?

16  Into what did Aristotle believe that Redstarts changed in order to account for their absence in winter?

17  How many people attended Madagascar’s first Birdfair in 2004, to the nearest 1,000?

18  Are there more birds on the British List described as Yellow, Grey or Golden?

19  In which country is Chaplin’s Barbet endemic?

20  Are there more species of Acrocephalus, Sylvia or Phylloscopus on the British List?

2005 B
Tim Melling – Naturetrek
Answers: see here

1  What colour are the legs of the breeding White-winged Black Tern?

2  Which species was ringed most frequently in Britain in 2003?

3  What was the species upon which Edgar Chance did his pioneering work in Worcestershire in the early part of the 20th century?

4  Following the recent taxonomic revision, of the five Houbara Bustards that have been recorded in Britain, how many have been reidentified as Macqueen’s Bustard?

5  Where do Greylag Geese breeding in the Forest of Dean go to moult?

6  If you saw a Chardonneret in France, what would you be watching?

7  How many wild birds were recorded as imported into the EU in 2000, to the nearest quarter of a million?

8  What was the Spruce Goose?

9  Which species of storm-petrel, believed to be extinct in the 19th century, was rediscovered in 2003?

10  What is Gurney’s Pitta’s current IUCN Red List categorization?

11  When were Porro prismatic binoculars invented, within 5 years?

12  What bird’s song was described by Bobby Tulloch as ‘the sound of fairies being sick’?

13  An individual of which species of albatross wearing a ‘geolocator’ on its leg was recorded to have circumnavigated the Southern Ocean in 46 days, having travelled a minimum of 22,000 km?

14  Which of the following does not exist – Puna Tinamou, Pampas Tinamou, Chaco Tinamou or Choco Tinamou?

15  Common Quail and Turtle Doves in Vojvodina in Serbia are especially threatened by what or who?

16  From where do the eggs used for the current Great Bustard reintroduction programme on Salisbury Plain come (omitting the obvious answer)?

17  Which site won the BTO/Hanson Business Bird Challenge ‘Major Wetland’ category with 188 species recorded in 2004 – beating Rutland Water by three?

18  What percentage of bird species have been recorded hybridising with other species?

19  What percentage of male Mute Swans are estimated to be killed by other swans in territorial disputes in the UK?

20  What was the occupation of John Henry Gurney, after whom the Pitta is named?

2005 C
Nigel Jones – Ornitholidays
Answers: see here

1  What colour is the tail of the Azure-winged Magpie?

2  When were Gannets first recorded breeding on Sule Skerry in the Orkneys?

3  Which Western Palaearctic raptor was made ‘Person of the week’ on the ABC TV World News Tonight programme, after visiting Martha’s Vineyard?

4  What was the last new species seen by the late Phoebe Snetsinger in Madagascar before her death?

5  What feature of some Feral Pigeons appears to reduce their chances of being caught by a stooping Peregrine when compared with those without this feature?

6  If you saw an Alouette lulu in France, what would you be watching?

7  What unique group defence mechanism do Fieldfares Turdus pilaris use on potential predators?

8  What is the largest bird family on the Sibley/Monroe classification?

9  What development on Dunmaglass Estate in the Highlands is predicted to decimate the Golden Eagle population in the region?

10  What was the Scottish population of Golden Eagles in 2003?

11  Who first described Gurney’s Pitta?

12  Where in the British Isles has the Red-winged Laughingthrush (Garrulax formosus) regularly bred since 1996, having escaped from captivity?

13  Name three of the eight key species targeted in the Scarce Woodland Bird Survey conducted by the BTO in 2005 and 2006?

14  Which of the following does not exist – Mountain White-eye, Mountain Black-eye, Barrow’s Goldeneye or Barrow’s Silver-eye?

15  What bird, according to BWP ‘may attempt to force prey off mountain ledges including sheep, chamois, steinbok and even man’?

16  In the hard winter of 1962/63, what was the highest recorded number of wrens observed entering a single nest-box in Britain?

17  Which species of goose could Roman Catholics eat on Fridays in the belief that it was a fish?

18  The BBC reported the rediscovery of which species on 28th April 2005 (unfortunately getting its name wrong)?

19  Where was the only area in England in which Hen Harriers bred successfully in 2004?

20  What was the 2003 population of the Galapagos Penguin reckoned to be?

2005 D
Brian Small – Limosa
Answers: see here

1  What colour are the legs of a breeding Rose-coloured Starling?

2  What bird is on the back of a £10 note with Charles Darwin?

3  Little Auk chicks are usually fed by only one parent at the end of chick-rearing. Which parent?

4  The local extinction of which species in Alderford Common in Norfolk was blamed entirely on one egg-collector, Daniel Lingham, who was prosecuted in March 2005?

5  And what was his sentence?

6  Are there more birds on the British List described as Northern, European or Eurasian?

7  When was the first BTO ‘Inquiry into the Status of the Corncrake or Landrail’?

8  If you saw a Canard colvert in France, what would you be watching?

9  Who first described the Moustached Warbler, has a gull named after him and had an Uncle Napoleon?

10  When was Gurney’s Pitta first described?

11  A pair of which species constructed their nest in Doha, Saudi Arabia, in 1985 of, among other things, a plastic sandal, two pieces of lorry tyre, two left-hand gloves, a pair of gentleman’s underpants (size 32-inch waist) and a complete goatskin?

12  Which of the following does not exist – Sad Flycatcher, Melancholy Woodpecker, Sobbing Pigeon or Lacrimose Mountain-tanager?

13  What is the collective noun for a flock of Great Bustards?

14  What does ‘Operation Artemis’ seek to protect in the UK?

15  What is unusual about the only mainland breeding site of Jackass Penguin (in Namibia)?

16  In 2001 far more Grey Phalaropes were recorded in Britain than in any previous year. How many?

17  And what was the previous highest score?

18  Most motmots have racquet-like tips of the central rectrices, although they are initially fully barbed along the whole shaft. How does this come about?

19  There are two species of Folige-gleaner restricted to the Tumbesian region of Ecuador and Peru, both of which are considered to be Vulnerable. Name one.

20  How many licensed ringers were there in England and Wales in 1958?

2006 A
Adrian Thomas – WildSounds
Answers: see here

1  What surprising mammalian threat are Tristan Albatross chicks facing on Gough Island?

2  By what name was Cecropis daurica previously known?

3  What is the only bird to be included in the witches’ broth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

4  Which European country has the largest breeding population of Rock Pipits?

5  Daisy, who died on 30th October 2002, reared 24 ducklings in 12 years in her capacity as the sole breeding female of wild origin of which species?

6  Are there more species of Charadrius, Calidris or Tringa on the British List?

7  Since 2000 what has threatened the Fatuhiva Monarch?

8  What fate befell a House Sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes at a Dutch televised World record domino stacking event in Leeuwarden (4 million dominoes being the target)?

9  With what bird is Saint Dominic usually associated?

10  Sergei Buturlin was the first ornithologist to discover the nest of which species at its main breeding grounds near the Kolyma River in Russia in 1905 (although a nest had been found in Greenland in 1885)?

11  Which of the following birds do not exist: Tinkerbirds, Tailorbirds, Soldierbirds and Pilotbirds?

12  What does ‘squacco’ mean?

13  Critically Endangered Sociable Lapwing/Plover chicks are being predated by which species which has spread due to the planting of shelter belts in Kazakhstan?

14  After what are Magenta Petrel and Herald Petrel named?

15  The Sulphur-breasted Parakeet Aratinga pintoi has only recently been described as a separate species because it was previously thought to be the immature of which species?

16  How many of the following have had wild populations of fewer than ten individuals: Californian Condor, Mauritius Kestrel, Whooping Crane and Chatham Island Black Robin?

17  The Quarrion or Weero is a common Australian bird. By what name is it more usually known?

18  What kind of farming slaughtered 70 Red Kites, 6 Black Kites, 45 Common Buzzards, 15 White-tailed Eagles and 376 bats among other luckless flying creatures in Brandenburg State in Germany up until August 2005?

19  How many of the 572 birds on the British List are described by eponyms (named after people)?

20  Which of the following gulls’ plumage is frequently suffused with pink: Slender-billed, Brown-hooded, Andean and Ross’s Gull?

2006 B
Colin Bradshaw – Carl Zeiss
Answers: see here

1  Who wrote Swifts in a Tower?

2  What raptor, not known for nesting in trees in Britain, successfully raised a brood of three in a wire hanging-basket in a tree in Shropshire in 2005?

3  Amorous behaviour with what species led observers to believe that the Black-winged Stilt, that stayed at Titchwell for 11 years was a male (Sammy)?

4  The eggs of which species were collected at Cape Crozier in the Antarctic in 1911 by Dr Edward Wilson, Apsley Cherry-Garrard and Birdie Bowers?

5  Who has a gull and a tern named after him?

6  Are there more species of Anser, Anas or Aythya on the British List?

7  What is a cricket-teal in East Anglia?

8  Who wrote: ‘The Dodo used to walk around, And take the sun and air. The sun yet warms his native ground – The Dodo is not there.’

9  In which Red List category is the Ultramarine Lorikeet of French Polynesia?

10  How have German ornithologists been using the bug Dipetalogaster maximus for ornithological research?

11  Which of the following birds do not exist: Red Bishop, Pope’s Lovebird, Abbott’s Booby, Chaplin’s Barbet?

12  What is a popinjay?

13  The Imperial Pheasant is now known to be a hybrid of which two species?

14  How many pairs of Bald Ibises were found to be breeding in Syria in 2003?

15  What is the chief threat to the Amani Nature Reserve in Tanzania, after which the Amani Sunbird is named?

16  What was the name of the extinct large flightless pigeon that lived on Rodriguez Island in the Mascerenes until the 18th century?

17  How many of the 572 birds on the British List are identified by a single noun without any descriptive adjective (10% either way)?

18  In 2002 the total of occupied Peregrine territories in the UK was 1,092, 1,292 or 1,492?

19  The 31p 1998 commemorative British stamp, featuring Endangered British species, depicted which bird?

20  Which volume number is the 2004 British Birds?

2006 C
Chris Galvin – Swarovski
Answers: see here

1  H7N7 and H5N1 refer to strains of which avian disease?

2  What genus includes Pavonine, Golden-headed, Crested and Resplendent among its constituent species?

3  What has isolated one of the three remaining populations of Great Bustards in Germany from the other two?

4  In which family of birds were 3 species considered Threatened in 1996, 16 in 2000, and 19 out of 21 in 2006?

5  What mythical species was the late ex-parrot in the famous Monty Python sketch said to be?

6  Are there more Crested Ibis in China or Japan?

7  Which New World warbler, described by Alexander Wilson in 1811, made its first recorded visit to the UK at Paisley in May 1977, just a few miles from Wilson’s birthplace?

8  What is the scientific name of the Ancient Murrelet?

9  Spell Synthliboramphus.

10  What does Synthliboramphus mean?

11  What was the probable reason for the extinction of the Rimatara Lorikeet from the Cook Islands?

12  What bird ‘sings on the orchard bough/In England – now!’ in Robert Browning’s Poem Home Thoughts, from Abroad?

13  The buds of which of the following variety of pear do Bullfinches largely ignore – Comice, Conference, William?

14  Which of the following birds do not exist: Calfbirds, Cowbirds, Bullbirds and Muttonbirds?

15  For what species was a light railway constructed on the island of Torishima to carry the corpses of slaughtered birds from the breeding slopes to the beach for the feather trade in the 19th century?

16  ‘Clod birds’ was the name used for Corn Buntings by the father of which previous winner of Bird Brain of Britain, as quoted in Birds Britannica?

17  Name three of the five species on the British List named after Peter Simon Pallas.

18  With what group of birds is W. L. N. (Lance) Tickell mainly associated?

19  What was the average autumn count of migrating raptors through Vera Cruz in Mexico between 1995 and 2001, to the nearest half-million?

20  How many Zino’s Petrel chicks were known to have fledged in 2005?

2006 D
Stephen Moss – Leica
Answers: see here

1  The Cuckoo, The Kingfisher, The Finch’s Arms and The Old Pheasant are or were all pubs in Rutland. Which one is nearest to the Birdfair?

2  On which English island has the eradication of Black and Brown Rats allowed Puffins to nest successfully in 2005 for the first time for 30 years?

3  Which bird organization publishes The Auk?

4  How long after the first Taiga Flycatcher was found at Flamborough Head on 26th April 2003 was the second British record found?

5  Why was the apostrophe in Verreauxs’ Eagle recently shifted from before the ‘s’ to after it?

6  By what name was Lophophanes cristatus more familiarly known?

7  What insect has become a threat to the Uvea Parakeet (since 1996)?

8  Which species nested successfully in Wales for the first time in recorded history in 2004?

9  And from where did the male originate?

10  What do the ‘O’u, Nukupu’u, Maui Alauahio, O’ahu ‘Alauahio and ‘Akohekohe all have in common with regard to their IUCN Red List categorization in 2000 and 2006?

11  Which of the following birds do not exist: Monkbirds, Nunbirds, Friarbirds and Apostlebirds?

12  Chateau Robin and Chateau Guillemot are wines from which famous Bordeaux area?

13  Why were 60% of the trees in a Vulnerable Superb Parrot colony in Victoria, Australia, felled?

14  In New Zealand the North Island Saddleback, Little Spotted Kiwi, Chatham Island Robin and Chatham Petrel were all confined to single small islands in the last few decades. How many still are?

15  Why is the Bananal Antbird so called?

16  Which country or state’s inhabitants are nicknamed ‘Crow-eaters’?

17  What is the alternative English name for Gurney’s Pitta?

18  Name one group of birds that have large olfactory bulbs in their bird-brains?

19  Which is the largest bird named after Charles Darwin?

20  In what way do the two morphs of Snow Petrel differ?

2007 A
Carl Downing – NBC
Answers: see here

1  How many Critically Endangered species are there?

2  Which species was recorded from the most 10 km squares in the original 1968–72 Atlas survey?

3  What measurement of Peregrine eggs established incontrovertibly the association between organochlorine pesticides and their population crash in the late 1950s and early 1960s?

4  What was the Birdfair project in 2005?

5  What was the name of the Puddle-duck in Beatrix Potter’s famous children’s book?

6  How many White-tailed Eagle chicks have successfully fledged in Scotland since their reintroduction to Rum in 1975? Is it 50, 100 or 200?

7  What was the subtitle of the magazine British Birds for the first 40 years of its existence?

8  Which of the following birds does not exist – Ursula’s Sunbird, Johanna’s Sunbird, Mrs Moreau’s Sunbird, Mrs Gould’s Sunbird?

9  Which of the following is the most important threat to the Bali Starling – hotel development, wind farms or the cage bird trade?

10  What sort of bird is a Bokikokiko?

11  Who was the President of the RSPB from 1985 to 1990 who died in January 2007, and was also a TV quizmaster of a quiz of which Bird Brain of Britain is a straight crib, if less well organized?

12  What bird is known as ‘brain-fever bird’.

13  What is a bergander (or bargander)?

14  In which country is the world’s largest harrier roost?

15  From which of the following diseases have birds been known to suffer – gout, malaria, tuberculosis and influenza?

16  Which of the following are the subjects of reintroduction schemes in the British Isles: White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Red Kite, Great Auk and Corncrake?

17  What links 1) nesting Great-winged Petrels and Flesh-footed Shearwaters in Western Australia and 2) nesting Grey Petrels and White-chinned Petrels on Antipodes Island?

18  What is the main cause of death among Blue Cranes in South Africa?

19  The future of which European species is threatened by hybridisation with its non-migratory Japanese cousin?

20  What is the greatest known age attained by a Starling from BTO ringing results?

2007 B
Chris Harbard – OSME
Answers: see here

1  What bird was responsible for the loss of Eric Hosking’s left eye?

2  Which bird, last seen on Lake Alaotra in Madagascar in 1991, was rediscovered in northern Madagascar in 2006?

3  Apart from Malta, of course, which other EU country permits the spring shooting of Turtle Doves?

4  What is the greatest known age attained by a Tufted Duck from BTO ringing results?

5  What is the main ingredient of ambelopoulia in Cyprus?

6  Into which English county are Cirl Buntings being reintroduced from Devon?

7  Aquatic Warblers are now known to winter in Senegal. What guided researchers to look for them in Senegal?

8  What sort of bird is a Balicassiao?

9  In which European country do the majority of Eleanora’s Falcons breed?

10  Which of the following birds does not exist – Sapphire Quail Dove, Ruby Quail Dove, Emerald Dove, Diamond Dove?

11  How much did the magazine British Birds cost per month in 1907 when it was first published?

12  What was the Birdfair project in 2004?

13  Why is the Providence Petrel so called?

14  Which of the following diseases affects birds – Gull’s Disease, Swift-Feer Disease, Thrush, Diver’s Paralysis?

15  Which of the following is the most important threat to the Grenada Dove – hotel development, wind farms or the cage bird trade?

16  Name one site where Manx Shearwaters nest in England?

17  Macgregor’s Bird of Paradise Macgregoria pulchra is not a Bird of Paradise (Paradisaeidae) on DNA analysis. What is it?

18  What pigment is responsible for the pink in a flamingo’s plumage?

19  Where would you find a Priolo?

20  Name one of the two counties which which have contained the largest English rookeries during the last 30 years.

2007 C
Paul French – OBC
Answers: see here

1  At least 1,500 individuals of which species were recently observed in Syria, although the estimated world population was previously thought to be only about 400?

2  What is the function of the nasal gland, present in all birds but enlarged in most seabirds?

3  Name one of the flagship species for this year’s (2007) Birdfair.

4  When did the second pair of Choughs start breeding in Cornwall following their recolonisation of that county?

5  Which European country has the largest breeding population of Mute Swans?

6  What did French missionaries in Guadeloupe call the fat chicks of Black-capped Petrel, so that they could eat them during Lent with a clear conscience?

7  Which of the following diseases affect birds – psittacosis, puffinosis, wry neck and Parrot’s disease?

8  What species of hummingbird regularly breeds in Alaska?

9  Which of the following birds does not exist – Baza, Bozo, Besra, Brolga?

10  Which of the following is the most important threat to the Puerto Rican Nightjar – hotel development, wind farms or the cage bird trade?

11  What was the ornithological name of Sir Francis Drake’s ship when he set off to circumnavigate the world in 1577, although it was later changed to The Golden Hind?

12  What was the Birdfair project in 2003?

13  Which of the following species have bred in the wild in the British Isles this century: Rosy-faced Lovebird, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Blue-crowned Parakeet and Monk Parakeet?

14  The oldest known Whimbrel was found injured, bitten by a Cape Fur-seal on Bird Island, Algoa Bay, in South Africa in 2005. How old was it?

15  A chick of which species hatched on 1st January 2007 in a captive breeding programme in Haryana in India at least one year before its parents were expected to breed?

16  What Critically Endangered petrel, unrecorded with certainty since 1929, was photographed in the Coral Sea off Australia in 2006?

17  Which 7th-century hermit has been described as Britain’s first bird conservationist?

18  When do the Pheasant and Partridge shooting seasons end?

19  What sort of bird is a Huet-huet?

20  To what kind of morbidly obese bird was Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School likened?

2007 D
Mark Andrews – ABC
Answers: see here

1  What is a Sprosser?

2  Which species bred in London for the first time in 1926 on the derelict site of the Wembley Exhibition?

3  Which book won the BB/BTO Best Bird Book of the Year 2006 award?

4  In which country does the adult Syrian population of Bald Ibises winter (as was recently discovered by satellite tracking)?

5  The average male of which rare British breeding bird can mimic at least 76 other bird species – half of them African?

6  What was the Birdfair project in 2002?

7  Where would you hope to find the Obscure Berrypicker?

8  What disease resulted in a permanent ban on the import of wild birds into the EU in January 2007?

9  What Critically Endangered species was rediscovered after 100 years by a shepherd looking for a lost goat in Peru in 1977?

10  Which of the following birds does not exist – Boubou, Brubru, Bobo, Boobook?

11  Which of the following is the most important threat to the Lear’s Macaw – hotel development, wind farms or the cage bird trade?

12  Which European warbler spends 23.7 minutes per copulation on average?

13  How old was a Lesser Flamingo found dead at Lake Bogoria in Kenya in July 2003 that had been ringed by Leslie Brown and Alan Root as a chick?

14  Roughly how many eggs, to the nearest 5,000, of the Horseshoe Crab does a Knot require per day to sustain it at its fuelling stop in Delaware Bay on its spring migration?

15  A group of Belgians is campaigning to allow the trapping of which songbird because wild birds sing better in cages than captive-bred birds?

16  In 2004, what species of raptor electrocuted itself on power lines at Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, and fell burning to the ground, starting a fire which burnt 2,300 ha, necessitating the evacuation of 1,600 homes?

17  By what name was Poecile palustris formerly known?

18  What is closest relative to the Kagu of New Caledonia on both DNA and morphological evidence?

19  Of Hawaii’s 34 species of Honeycreeper, are 3, 13 or 23 now extinct?

20  The WWF (World Wildlife Fund/Worldwide Fund for Nature) was founded in 1961 by Julian Huxley, Max Nicholson and two other ornithologists. Name one.

2008 A
Martin Fowlie – NBC
Answers: see here

1  Which project is being supported by Birdfair this year?

2  Is Lincoln’s Sparrow named after President Abraham Lincoln?

3  Which island in the British Isles has only single records of Goosander, Marsh Tit, Eastern Phoebe and Ancient Murrelet?

4  What Critically Endangered species from Brazil was depicted on last year’s Birdfair poster?

5  Which British bird is potentially under threat from Tree Mallow which has spread in the UK due to amelioration of the climate?

6  What sort of flightless ducks have been found to migrate from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the Bering Strait since 1992?

7  For what purpose are seriemas, screamers and trumpeters used by humans in South America?

8  Name one of the three archipelagos that have twelve or more Critically Endangered species.

9  What colour is the iris of the Woodpigeon?

10  Which of the following is not extinct: Hawaiian Rail, Tahiti Rail, British Rail, New Britain Rail?

11  What anti-inflammatory drug is in use in veterinary practice in Tanzania, although it has already decimated the vulture population in India?

12  With what product are the piquero, camanay, alcatraz and guanay associated?

13  Which Critically Endangered species has in focus championed, as part of BirdLife International’s Guardians and Champions project?

14  What plumage difference distinguishes the male Ptarmigan from the female in winter?

15  Which Critically Endangered parrot has recently bred in the wild following translocation?

16  Roatelo, meaning two-three in Malagasy, is an alternative name for which Madagascan endemic birds after their habit of going around in small groups of two or three?

17  Beside the Mangrove Finch, what is the other Critically Endangered passerine in the Galapagos?

18  Which oystercatchers have a white neck collar?

19  What bird is named after Madame Dumont d’Urville?

20  In what year did Scottish Crossbill become a species on the British List, within three years?

2008 B
David Murdoch – OSME
Answers: see here

1  Which project was supported by Birdfair last year?

2  What colour is the lower mandible of the female Common Kingfisher?

3  What is a bleeding-heart?

4  What was the ornithological surname of the French winner of the gold medal in the 5,000 metres in the 1920 Olympic Games?

5  In which country was a flock of 3,200 Sociable Lapwings counted in 2007?

6  What ornithological event is believed to have caused the huge increase in the population of White-footed Mouse in the USA, resulting in an increase in Lyme disease, as the mouse is a vector of deer-ticks?

7  What Critically Endangered species from Mexico was depicted on last year’s Birdfair poster?

8  Why was the Olive-tree Warbler in Shetland in August 2006 less exciting for the finders than it might have been for a British ‘first’?

9  Is the estimated tonnage of lead shot used by hunters round the Mediterranean each year 6,000, 60,000 or 600,000 tonnes?

10  Which of the following is not extinct: Norfolk Starling, Tanimbar Starling, Mysterious Starling, Reunion Starling?

11  Which Critically Endangered species has Swarowski championed as part of BirdLife International’s Guardians and Champions project?

12  What is Scotch woodcock?

13  Name one of the three or four Critically Endangered species with a population thought to be greater than 30,000 individuals.

14  What colour is the iris of an Osprey?

15  Is the Stanley Bustard named after the 19th century British Prime Minister, Edward Stanley?

16  What name does the International Ornithological Congress recommend that we now use for Rock Dove / Rock Pigeon /Feral Pigeon/Columba livia?

17  Name one country, outside Africa, where Lesser Flamingo has bred in historical times?

18  Who illustrated both T. A. Coward’s Birds of the British Isles and their Eggs and Miss S. Vere Benson’s Observer’s Book of British Birds?

19  What was the commonest non-natural (human-related) cause of death among Spanish Imperial Eagles between 1989 and 2004?

20  What is the Red Sea Warbler more commonly called?

2008 C
Paul Stancliffe – BTO
Answers: see here

1  Which project will be supported by Birdfair next year?

2  Where else is an Azure-winged Magpie azure apart from the wings?

3  Which species of bird caused the greatest loss of human life in an air strike when 62 people were killed when birds brought down an Eastern Airlines Lockheed Electra in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1960?

4  Is Wilson’s Warbler named after Woodrow Wilson, the former US president?

5  In which country was the world’s largest Arctic Tern colony of over 50,000 pairs in 1950, which had been completely exterminated by 2000 due to egg-collecting?

6  Which Old World warbler breeds in the New World?

7  What species of bird has learned to peck around the tail of brooding Nazca Boobies in the Galapagos in order to drink the blood thereby produced?

8  What is urohidrosis?

9  What Critically Endangered species from Africa was depicted on last year’s Birdfair poster?

10  Which of the following does not exist: Golden-crowned Emerald, Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Ruby-necklaced Emerald, Coppery-headed Emerald?

11  In 1930 what happened when the last remaining female Laysan Duck had her eggs destroyed by a Bristle-thighed Curlew?

12  Which Critically Endangered species has Birdwatch magazine championed as part of BirdLife International’s Guardians and Champions project?

13  What was the ornithological-sounding surname of the New Zealand winner of the silver medal in the 5,000 metres in the 1976 Olympic Games?

14  What object attached to a White Stork shot in Mecklenburg in Germany in 1822 gave a clue that storks wintered in Central Africa?

15  What colour is the iris of the Stock Dove?

16  Which country is home to the most species of Critically Endangered hummingbird?

17  Who was Roger Tory Peterson’s companion on a 25,000 mile tour of North America in 1953, resulting in the book Wild America?

18  What happened to the first captive-bred Philippine Eagle to be released in the Philippines?

19  What name does the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) recommend that we now use for (Common) Crossbill Loxia curvirostra?

20  In what year did the Cattle Egret colonise South America? Give the decade.

2008 D
Pete Leonard – ABC
Answers: see here

1  How many Critically Endangered species are there?

2  The dark markings on the throat of the male Common Quail are usually compared with what nautical object?

3  What bird did American hunters call the ‘dough bird’, on account of the soft dough-like texture of its fat on its autumn migration, when millions were slaughtered?

4  Is the Bushtit named after the American president?

5  Which race of Peregrine breeds in the British Isles?

6  On 17th August 1768 (240 years ago tomorrow), Gilbert White described three species, previously considered to be one species, in a letter to Thomas Pennant. What were they?

7  In 1941 what American passerines did Vera Lynn predict would be over the White Cliffs of Dover?

8  What Critically Endangered species from Asia was depicted on last year’s Birdfair poster?

9  When Konrad von Gesner published a drawing and description of a now Critically Endangered bird in 1555, the general response was that it was a hoax. What was this outlandish bird?

10  In Navarra in north-east Spain, what species was most frequently killed by 271 wind-turbines between 2000 and 2002?

11  Which of the following does not exist: Thrush Nightingale, Nightingale Finch, Nightingale Wren, Nightingale Bunting?

12  What species has most recently been classified as Critically Endangered?

13  Name one of the four genera with the dubious honour of having four Critically Endangered species.

14  Which Critically Endangered species has Wildsounds championed as part of BirdLife International’s Guardians and Champions project?

15  In which European country does approximately half the world population of Red Kite breed?

16  By what name was Cyanistes caeruleus more familiarly known?

17  What colour is the iris of a Common Kestrel?

18  What is a ‘faeder’ when applied to Ruff?

19  In what year did the Cattle Egret colonise North America (Florida)? Give the decade.

20  What killed 17 of the 18 young Whooping Cranes in the migratory eastern population of Whooping Cranes in Florida in 2007?

2009 A
Jez Bird – OBC
Answers: see here

1  What is the principal diet of the Acorn Woodpecker in winter?

2  What is the principal diet of the Sandwich Tern?

3  Are there more Critically Endangered birds or Critically Endangered amphibians?

4  What are ‘duck stamps’ used for in the USA?

5  The activities of which species of bird led to the abandonment of a Parliamentary Bill in the House of Commons in 1607?

6  Which has the longer bill – Sword-billed Hummingbird or Greenshank?

7  Who, born 100 years ago in September, first described the Greenland White-fronted Goose?

8  Which former Warden of Dungeness Bird Observatory and subsequent Head of Reserves Management at the RSPB died on 26th March 2009?

9  What is a haggard hawk or falcon?

10  Which of the following birds does not exist: Sicklebill, Scythebill, Spadebill, Secateurbill?

11  From what protein are feathers made principally?

12  What birds may be Bronze-winged, Comb-crested and Pheasant-tailed?

13  To what was John Clare referring when he wrote: ‘Ah, could I see a spinney nigh/A paddock riding in the sky Above the oaks, in easy sail/On stilly wings and forked tail’?

14  What red-legged birds are depicted on the coat of arms of Canterbury?

15  How many species of bunting are included in the suite of 19 birds included in the Farmland Bird Index?

16  For a bonus, name two of the three.

17  Who is Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds?

18  When was the Ornithological Society of the Middle East founded?

19  Which wader first bred in Britain in 1938 and now numbers a few hundred breeding pairs?

20  What European country has the Great Bustard as its national bird?

2009 B
Martin Fowlie – NBC
Answers: see here

1  What is the principal diet of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (outside the breeding season)?

2  What is the principal diet of the Bananaquit?

3  Who is the Chief Executive Officer of BirdLife International?

4  What birds can be Bronze-winged, Double-banded and Cream-coloured?

5  Who, born 300 years ago, on 10th March, has a jay, an eider and a sea-cow named after him?

6  Which has the longer wing – Corncrake or Common Swift?

7  Do birds have a spleen?

8  Which of the following birds does not exist: Bald Parrot, Bald Bulbul, Bald Eagle, Bald Ibis?

9  What is snarge?

10  Name two Critically Endangered species which occur in continental USA (if not yet extinct)?

11  For a bonus, name two more.

12  How many different Rosses are Ross’s Goose, Ross’s Gull and Ross’s Turaco named after?

13  Which is named after who?

14  What migrated from Beech Grove to The Nunnery in 1991?

15  What is a falconer’s hawk doing if it is having a jenk?

16  Apart from the Rook, which other corvid is included in the Farmland Bird Index?

17  Who, born 200 years ago this September, wrote of the Eagle that: ‘He clasps the crag with crooked hands;/Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring’d with the azure world, he stands’?

18  How many years ago was the Oriental Bird Club founded?

19  When did Cetti’s Warbler first breed in Britain in recent times, within three years?

20  In which country can you see both Groundscraper Thrush and Cloud-scraping Cisticola?

2009 C
Richard Prior – OSME
Answers: see here

1  What is the principal diet of the Snail Kite?

2  What is the principal diet of the Morepork?

3  Who, born 200 years ago on 12th February, has a tinamou, a rhea and some finches named after him?

4  By what ornithological name was the French singer Edith Piaf known?

5  How does the Hoatzin differ from other vegetarian birds in the way it breaks up the tough leaves that comprise its diet?

6  Which species bred for the first time in Britain in Somerset in 2008?

7  How many pairs nested?

8  For what group of birds are tori lines used as a conservation measure?

9  Which of the following birds does not exist: Scimitarbill, Spearbill, Shoebill, Sheathbill?

10  In 2008 an electronic tag from a Steelhead Salmon, marked at the Columbia River hatchery in Oregon in 2006, was found by the nest of which species of bird on Mokonui Island in New Zealand, 10,000 kms from Oregon?

11  Which has the longer leg (tarsus) – Black-winged Stilt or Mute Swan?

12  After 1993 what led to the marked increase in the capture of Endangered Javan Hawk Eagles as status symbols?

13  How many species of finch are included in the Farmland Bird Index?

14  For a bonus, name two of the three.

15  The specific name of the Critically Endangered Alagoas Antwren is named after which eminent ornithologist who died on 4th February 2009?

16  What birds may be Sharp-tailed, White-rumped, Buff-breasted and Spoon-billed?

17  Who is the President of the British Ornithologists’ Union?

18  When was the African Bird Club founded?

19  What now Critically Endangered species received protection as early as 1504 from the Archbishop of Salzburg?

20  Which Critically Endangered passerine is confined to a 7 sq km island in the Atlantic?

2009 D
Nigel Redman – ABC
Answers: see here

1  What is the principal diet of the European Bee-eater?

2  What is the principal diet of the Macaroni Penguin?

3  Which American sparrow is named after Charles Darwin’s mentor at Cambridge?

4  How many ossicles do birds have in their middle ear?

5  Which has the longer tail – Caspian Tern or Cuckoo?

6  Name two of the three species of Critically Endangered ducks that are not confined to islands?

7  For a bonus, name the third.

8  What mammal was responsible for the deaths of both Prince Ruspoli and Johan Wahlberg after whom a turaco and eagle are named?

9  Which well-known ornithologist, who died this year, wrote The Private Life of the Street Pigeon in 1979 and also recorded Witherby’s Sound Guide to British Birds with Myles North?

10  Which of the following birds does not exist: Kiwi, Pewee, Weewee, Iiwi?

11  What is a sod in Shetland?

12  What is the connection between the Silver Invicta, the Golden Olive Bumble and the (Eurasian) Jay?

13  What is the matter with a falconer’s hawk if it has craye?

14  What birds can be Broad-tailed, Pin-tailed, Shaft-tailed and Straw-tailed?

15  Which philosopher and ornithologist, born 2,393 years ago, is commemorated in the Latin name of a British seabird?

16  Who is the Director of the British Trust for Ornithology?

17  Which is the only warbler included in the Farmland Bird Index?

18  When was the Neotropical Bird Club founded?

19  Which is the only species of crane that has an increasing population trend?

20  Prior to the 2001 record of Magpie on St Martin’s, how many had previously been recorded on Scilly?

2010 A
Pete Morris – ABC
Answers: see here

1  Of which American state is the Rhode Island Red the state bird?

2  In which decade did Sir Peter Scott first notice the significance of bill patterns to enable individual Bewick’s Swans to be told apart?

3  When was the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands signed? Was it 1961, 1971 or 1981?

4  In which country is Ramsar after which the International Convention on Wetlands is named?

5  In which county have both Pacific auks on the British List been recorded?

6  Where would you go to see Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis?

7  What material did the Japanese use to make mist-nets for catching birds for food during World War II, and which were subsequently adopted in 1956 for ringing?

8  Which of the following birds does not exist: Minute Piculet, Miniature Tit-babbler, Tiny Hawk, Small Minivet?

9  What species of swan was found dead at Cellardyke from avian flu in 2006?

10  What species was it at first thought to be?

11  What species has hybridised with chickens, guineafowl, two species of goose, 41 species of duck and has also indulged in homosexual necrophilia?

12  Kakapo only breed when the fruit of which trees are superabundant?

13  ‘On a tree by a river a little tom-tit – sang “willow, titwillow titwillow …”’ comes from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. What was the tom-tit?

14  What is the title of the African Bird Club journal?

15  In 1456 what finch species was the first to be involved in singing competitions in Europe?

16  What birds can be Velvet-mantled, White-bellied, Crow-billed, Fork-tailed or Hair-crested?

17  What is ptilochronology used to measure?

18  Who wrote the foreword for either the first or the second Atlas of Breeding Birds of Britain and Ireland?

19  In which country is BANCA the BirdLife partner?

20  What is a ‘mock nightingale’ according to Gilbert White?