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,
