BIRDS 1 What would you be watching if you were looking at a
Transcription
BIRDS 1 What would you be watching if you were looking at a
BIRDS 1 What would you be watching if you were looking at a 'Norfolk plover'? Stone Curlew Burhinus oedicnemus 2 The accepted common names of which two regular British breeding birds derive from English towns? Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis and Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata, both towns in Kent. 3 Which bird was popularly known as ‘draw-water’ in Victorian times? Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis 4 What is the smallest bird by weight in the world? Bee Hummingbird Calypte helenae of Cuba. The male weighs just 1.6g. 5 Halt high insurgent? (anagram) Thrush Nightingale. Nightingale Thrush, of which there are several Neotropical species, was also accepted. 6 Which British breeding bird has the longest legs? (absolute length, not proportionately longest) Common Crane Grus grus 7 What type of food does a graminivorous bird eat? Grass (not grain or seed = granivorous). Wigeon and Barnacle Goose are good examples of graminivores. 8 Which bird owes its presence in Britain to introductions that began in Northamptonshire in the decade 1880 to 1890? Little Owl Athene noctua 9 What connects the logo of the African Bird Club and a large reptile? The logo is of the Egyptian Plover, which is often known as “The Crocodile Bird” 10 What is remarkable about the structure of the foot of a Swift? All four of its toes point forwards 11 What term is used to describe the sudden arrival of a large number of migrant birds that are grounded due to weather conditions, particularly during autumn? A fall 12 What is Morocco’s smallest breeding bird by weight? Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus 13 Which species has the largest eyes of any living bird? The Ostrich Struthio camelus 14 In which tropical family of birds does the male wall up the female in the nest hole for the duration of nesting? Hornbills Bucerotidae 15 What is the bird connection between Wrexham, Bristol and Swindon? Robin. Wrexham, Bristol City and Swindon Town football teams are all known as the Robins. 16 Which members of the Starling family, confined to Africa, obtain all their food from the hides of large mammals, both wild and domestic? Oxpeckers Buphagus sp. 17 Which British bird subspecies occurs only on St Kilda? St Kilda Wren Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis 18 Which two waders that breed in the UK are named for the colour of their legs? Common Redshank and Common Greenshank 19 Which British Island gives its name to a species of bird AND a domestic mammal? Isle of Man: Manx Shearwater, Manx Cat 20 Name the smallest British bird species with zygodactyl feet? Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor - smaller than Wryneck in both length and weight 21 Missing the fifth secondary feather on each wing is a state known as what? Diastataxis. Nightjar is an example. 22 In Britain, for bird species to be placed on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern, one of the criteria requires the breeding population to have declined by what percentage over 25 years? More than 50% 23 Which British wader has only three toes? Sanderling Calidris alba is the only sandpiper with three toes. However, many of the charadriine waders and a few others also lack a hind toe, including the ringed and golden plovers, Dotterel, Black-winged Stilt, Oystercatcher, Creamcoloured Courser and Stone-curlew, so there are several acceptable answers to the question as it is worded. Note, however, that Avocet does have a hind toe, albeit very small, and Grey Plover usually, but not always has a hind toe. 24 Many owls hunt by ear and some can catch prey they cannot see at all. Which owl is able not only to locate, by ear, voles in their runs under snow but also to plunge into the snow and capture them? Great Grey Owl Strix nebulosa 25 Which bird has the longest tail of any bird on the British list? (absolute length, not proportionately longest) Lady Amherst's Pheasant Chrysolophus amherstiae 26 What unusual morphological feature is shared by Common Swift, Hoopoe and Cetti's Warbler? They have only ten rectrices (tail feathers). Cetti's Warbler is the only British passerine to show this feature. 27 What new piece of feeding behaviour was first noticed in 1921 being practised in Southampton by a Blue Tit? Removing a milk bottle top to get at the cream 28 Apart from Cormorants and Shags, which other British breeding bird has webs between all four of its toes? Gannet Sula bassana 29 Of which British bird species do the majority fly to the Waddensea between Netherlands and Denmark to moult? Shelduck Tadorna tadorna 30 What unwanted link connects Dunnock, Meadow Pipit and Reed Warbler when breeding? They are the three common hosts of Cuckoo in Britain. 31 Which passerine winters in internationally important numbers around the shores of The Wash? Twite Carduelis flavirostris 32 Which European princess had a bird named after her? Eleonora of Arborea, Sardinia c1350-1404 (Eleonora's Falcon). Princess Stephanie of Belgium (1864-1945) was also accepted as a valid answer (Stephanie’s Astrapia or Princess Stephanie’s Bird-of-Paradise Astrapia stephaniae, from New Guinea). Isabella of Castile, after whose underwear the colour Isabelline is supposedly named, was not allowed. This etymology is dubious, and Isabelline Wheatear and Isabelline Shrike are named for their colour, not after the person. 33 Which conservation organisation was born out of the 1928 Heronries Census? British Trust for Ornithology 34 What term is given to the sudden wave of alarm, usually accompanied by silence that sometimes occurs in a colony of gulls or terns? A dread 35 The scientific name of a Kenyan endemic, the Sokoke Scops Owl, is Otus ireneae. Who was the Irene honoured here? Mrs Irene Morden, who sponsored expeditions and was a collector in Kenya for the American Museum of Natural History. The owl was named for science in 1966: it was called "Mrs Morden's Owlet" at one point, and later "Morden's Scops Owl". 36 After which well-known bird were the early postmen nicknamed because of the colour of their coats? Robin 37 In a duck decoy, how were the birds traditionally lured into the funnels? Usually by a trained dog, which ran in and out through a series of screens, the ducks following out of curiosity. Occasionally tame or pinioned ducks were used to lure their wild cousins. 38 Which small bird was formerly the object of a hunt on St Stephen's Day in many parts of England? Wren Troglodytes troglodytes 39 What aspect of bird study did the brothers Richard and Cherry Kearton pioneer in the UK in the 1890s? Bird photography 40 What important discovery was made in 1861 in a quarry near Solnhofen Pappenheim, Bavaria? The first fossil remains of Archaeopteryx, then the earliest known fossil recognisable as a feathered bird. 41 What type of bird is represented by the oboe in Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf'? A duck 42 Which British coin featured the Wren on its obverse? Farthing 43 In the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, which bird had the refrain of 'Nevermore'? The Raven Corvus corax 44 The introduction of what device from Japan in 1956 revolutionised the practice of bird ringing? Mist nets 45 Which domesticated wildfowl species originated in South America? Muscovy Duck Cairina moschata 46 A German bird observatory gave its name to a funnel of wire netting used at bird observatories to trap birds for ringing purposes. What is its name? Hel(i)goland (Heligoland Trap) 47 Beatrice Harrison worked with which species of bird in Oxted, Surrey? Nightingale. She was famously recorded by the BBC in the 1920s playing the cello accompanied by Nightingale song. 48 The distribution of the plant fumitory is closely related in Britain to the range of which bird, for which it is an important food plant? Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur 49 Which species of seabird makes its nest 2,000 feet up on a rocky mountain top in the Hebrides Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus - on Rhum 50 Which country features most often in the English names of birds on the British list? Name the birds. (Note that America refers to the continent rather than the USA) Egypt: Egyptian Goose, Egyptian Vulture, Egyptian Nightjar 51 Which loud bird owes its scientific and English names to a Jesuit priest and professor of mathematics? Cetti's Warbler Cettia cetti, named after Fr. Francesco Cetti (1736-1778) who wrote a book on the natural history of Sardinia. 52 Which UK breeding bird that winters primarily in Africa contains a fish-eating quadruped and sits on eggs it has not laid? D-otter-el. The male alone incubates the eggs. The main wintering area is North Africa and the Middle East. Sp-ott-ed Flycatch-er and R-o-sea-t-e Ter-n were good tries (the male shares incubation with the female in these species so not excluded as the question is worded), but the former winters entirely in Africa, as does the European population of Roseate Tern. 53 Which British bird, when postage stamps were first issued, might have worn a pointed hat and rode a broomstick? Great Auk. The last bird recorded in Britain, on St Kilda, in about 1840 was killed as a witch. The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp was issued in 1840. The date connection points to Great Auk rather than Storm-petrel (Mother Carey's Chicken). 54 Which bird on the British list is named after a river over 1000 miles long? Pechora Pipit. The River Pechora is the third longest river in Europe after the Volga and Danube. NB The River Terek (Terek Sandpiper) is only a few hundred miles long, while in North America the Tennessee River (Tennessee Warbler) is also well under one thousand miles. As the question did not specify English name, Gull-billed Tern Sterna (Gelochelidon) nilotica was also accepted, the specific name meaning ‘of the River Nile’. 55 What is the smallest British bird species with white-feathered feet? House Martin Delichon urbicum 56 Which widespread British breeding bird was confined to St Kilda until 1878? Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 57 What does a bird 'with no feet' have in common with 'a cave dweller' and one that 'resembles a winnowing fan'? All have the generic name repeated as the specific name. Swift Apus apus (meaning no foot), Wren Troglodytes troglodytes (meaning cave dweller) and Lapwing Vanellus vanellus (winnowing fan). 58 About 70 specimens are found in museums, with the last one shot in 1935 and the last confirmed sighting in 1949. If it still exists it is most likely to be found in Myanmar. What species is it? Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea 59 Who or what, nominally, connects the vulnerable Blue Bird of Paradise and an African lake? Archduke, later Crown Prince, Rudolph of AustriaHungary (1857-1889). The Blue Bird of Paradise was named Paradisaea rudolphi after him, as was Lake Rudolf in the Great Rift Valley in northern Kenya, just reaching into Ethiopia, now known as Lake Turkana. 60 Which bird, once numbering hundreds of thousands, migrated from northern North America to South America, and is now presumed extinct? Eskimo Curlew (not Passenger Pigeon which was not recorded south of Mexico). The last incontrovertible record of Eskimo Curlew was in 1963. 61 If you take a Gentoo Penguin and an Upland Goose from a Sooty Tern, what are you left with? 97 pence. Gentoo Penguin and Upland Goose appear on the 1p and 2p coins of the Falkland Islands, while Sooty Tern appears on the £1 coin of St Helena. The currencies of both these British Overseas Territories are tied to the pound sterling. BATS 62 Which genus is the most widely distributed globally of all the bats? Myotis. Absent only from Arctic, sub-Antarctic and Antarctic regions and many oceanic islands. 63 Which European football team has a bat on their logo? Valencia of the Spanish la liga FISH 64 Salmon are anadromous, coming into freshwater from saltwater to breed. What is our only UK anadromous fish without the letter 's' in its common name? River Lamprey. Our other anadromous fish are Salmon, Sea Trout, Sea Lamprey, Common Sturgeon (very rare nonbreeding visitor), Allis Shad, Twaite Shad and Smelt. Brook Lamprey spends all its life in freshwater. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS 65 Turtle soup is usually made from the Green Turtle. Which species was exploited for tortoiseshell? Hawksbill Turtle, though fortunately the practice is now illegal in most countries. 66 What colour eyes does a common toad have? Orange/amber/copper 67 Which county hosts 50% of all natterjack sites in the UK? Cumbria 68 Which two charities merged to form the UK-based charity Amphibian and Reptile Conservation? This question is void. Froglife and the Herpetological Conservation Trust were due to merge in 2010. However, after the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust was set up, Froglife pulled out of the merger and remain a separate charity, while the Herpetological Conservation Trust now call themselves Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS 69 What is the tongue of butterflies and moths called? Proboscis or haustellum. 70 Which is the largest resident British moth? Privet Hawk-moth Sphinx ligustri. There are a few other Hawk-moth species that are slightly larger which occasionally visit Britain. 71 Often common in southern Britain, of which moth is only the parthenogenetic wingless female known? Luffia ferchaultella (family Psychidae, Bagworms). The small cases which shelter the caterpillars, and later the adult females, are to be found on the trunks of deciduous trees. Although Dahlica triquetrella and Dahlica lichenella, belonging to the same family of moths, are both known in Britain only as parthenogenetic flightless females, winged males of these two species are known in Continental Europe. Furthermore, both these species are rarities in Britain, unlike Luffia ferchaultella. 72 What piece of equipment, first described in 1950 in Entomologists' Gazette, revolutionised the study of moths? The Robinson light trap. The paper was Robinson, HS & Robinson, PJM (1950) Some notes on the observed behaviour of Lepidoptera in the vicinity of light sources together with a description of a light trap designed to take entomological samples. Entomologists' Gazette 1: 3-20. SPIDERS 73 How does the male Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis court the female? He wraps a fly or other small object in silk and offers it as a gift. While the female is occupied with the gift he takes his chance to mate. Some males have been known to wrap small pebbles if they have been unable to catch a fly; others may grab the gift back after mating to try their luck elsewhere! 74 Most spiders have how many eyes? Eight. A small number of spiders have six eyes, and a very few (none British) have only two. Some species of cave spider have even lost all their eyes through evolution. Sight is relatively unimportant to many (though not all) spiders as they have many specialist sense organs with which they ‘see’ their world. 75 You see a spider in Britain carrying her eggsac attached to her spinnerets. To which two families might she belong? Wolf spiders Lycosidae and Comb-footed spiders Theridiidae. Most, but not all, our wolf spiders run around carrying their eggsac in this way. However, a few wolf spiders live in a burrow guarding their eggsac. Most of our 56 species of comb-footed spiders guard their eggsac in a retreat, but three species, two uncommon (Rugathodes instabilis and R. bellicosus), one common (Neottiura bimaculata), trail their eggsac with them as they go. Raft and Nursery Web spiders Pisauridae also carry their eggsac around for the first few days, but in their jaws, NOT attached to their spinnerets. 76 Our British Cave Spiders Meta menardi and M. bourneti live only in enclosed sites where there is no light, such as caves, underground tunnels and hollows in old trees. How then are they able they colonise new sites? When the young first hatch they are positively attracted to the light so head outside. When weather conditions are suitable they pay out a line of silk that catches the breeze and lifts the spiderling into the air. Some may travel many miles, but such dispersion is highly random. After undergoing their next moult the growing young spiders are then repelled by light and seek somewhere dark to live the rest of their life. Many young must perish without finding somewhere suitable to grow to maturity. TREES 77 Which tree native to Britain has the widest natural range globally? Juniper Juniperus communis - across north temperate zones of Europe (down to North Africa), Asia and N America. While Juniper is more usually a low shrub, it sometimes grows to be a tree up to 10m. 78 Which tree native to Britain is commemorated in the pub name, 'The Chequers'? Wild Service or Checkers Tree, Sorbus torminalis - a drink was brewed from the berries. 79 Which tree is usually regarded as native to Ireland, but not to Britain? The Strawberry Tree Arbutus unedo (grows wild in Killarney) 80 Which British native tree traditionally supplied the timber for shields? Aspen Populus tremula, but Lime and Black Poplar both also accepted. FUNGI 81 What is the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease? Ophiostoma ulmi/Ceratocystis ulmi. Two other closely related taxa are sometimes recognised O. himal-ulmi and O. novo-ulmi. 82 Which of the following is the odd one out, taxonomically?: Boletus edulis (The Cep), Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric), Gyromitra esculenta (False Morel), Daedaleopsis confragosa (Blushing Bracket), Calvatia = Langermannia gigantea (Giant Puffball) Gyromitra esculenta is an Ascomycete, the others are Basidiomycetes 83 A native of Northamptonshire, and author of a seminal work on the subject in 1860, who is regarded as the founder of British Mycology (study of fungi)? Rev Miles Joseph Berkeley 84 What is the common name of the food product myco-protein made from the filamentous fungus Fusarium venenatum? Quorn 85 What is the relationship between the insect Lasius fuliginosus and the fungus Cladosporium myrmecophilum? The Jet Black Ant uses the living fungus in the construction of its nest. As the fungal hyphae thread their way through the walls of the nest they act as a strengthening framework, akin to the metal rods in reinforced concrete. The ants do not eat the fungus, but use it purely as a building material. The fungus appears to live nowhere else but in the nests of this ant. ORCHIDS 86 What are the three recognised saprophytic orchids found in Britain? Coralroot Orchid Corallorhiza trifida, Ghost Orchid Epipogium aphyllum, Birdsnest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis CONSERVATION 87 A former controller of BBC2 and a former captain of the England cricket team are the patrons of which conservation organisation? World Land Trust: David Attenborough and David Gower 88 What is the current name of the international conservation organisation that was founded in 1922, and changed its name to its current incarnation in 1993? BirdLife International. It was founded as the International Committee for the Protection of Birds, soon after becoming the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP). BOB'S FIRSTS 89 During his long and illustrious ‘birding career’, Bob Scott found no fewer than four birds that had never before been recorded in Britain – his ‘four ‘firsts’ in taxonomic order were Hume’s Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, Dark-eyed Junco and Northern Waterthrush. Of the ‘fab four’, which did he find first, and where was it? Northern Waterthrush on St Agnes, Scilly, September 1958 90 Which of the four species noted in question 89 has, currently, the most records accepted by the British Birds Rarities Committee Hume’s Warbler 91 Of the 25 British records of Short-toed Treecreeper since Bob found the first, no fewer than 13 have been seen at one particular site – where is this? Dungeness 92 Northern Waterthrush has been recorded from three British & Irish bird observatories since Bob found the first for Britain & Ireland - which are they? Gibraltar Point, Portland and Cape Clear RSPB 93 Which bird was the subject of the RSPB film 'The commendable crow'? Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax 94 Which RSPB reserve consists of disused gravel diggings on the shore of The Wash? Snettisham 95 The RSPB's first initiative in Africa, "Save the Seashore Birds" project was started in 1985 in which African country? Ghana 96 From 1954-1965 the covers of the RSPB's magazine Bird Notes featured colour paintings by which artist? Charles Tunnicliffe 97 Which well-known RSPB reserve would you be visiting if you took a boat from Orford Quay? Havergate Island, Suffolk 98 The RSPB film 'Big Bill' featured the life of which British bird? Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 99 The RSPB HQ at The Lodge at Sandy, Bedfordshire was built in 1870 for one of the sons of which famous statesman? Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the UK from 1834-35 and again 1841-46. His fifth son Arthur Wellesley Peel had The Lodge built, and was its first occupier. 100 What was the title of the first magazine produced by the RSPB for its members? Bird Notes & News, first published in 1903. This became Bird Notes in 1947, then Birds in 1966.