Bird Brain: Over 2,400 Questions to Test Your Bird Knowledge

Carl Downing – NBC

Answers: see here (#litres_trial_promo)

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 (#litres_trial_promo)

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 (#litres_trial_promo)

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?