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
