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