Avian Quiz Answer – July 1, 2011

Ah yes, the answer to this week’s quiz.  Here is what I remember about the quiz: the clues are all about birds, but the answer is not.  OK, got it.  Clues=birds.  Answer=not birds.

I gave clues to the first four words in a sequence of words, your job was to get the next word in sequence.  Here are the clues, and their answers:

1^st two words … I’m listening to a local birdsong right now, eastern US north to Canada, common, suburban … Tufted Titmouse … “Peter, Peter”.

3^rd word, 1^st syllable … what do Kirtland’s Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Palm Warbler, American Pipit (and maybe others) ­­­­­have in common? … The “pump” their tails.

3^rd word, 2^nd syllable …  Florida breeding one-word named bird, the northern limits of its breeding range, swamps, marshes, last three letters of the name … Limpkin … “kin”.

4^th word, What do bee, gnat and honey have in common? … bird families, bee-eater, gnat-eater, honey-eater … “eater”.

As I said, all of the clues have to do with birds.  Putting the answers together in sequence … “Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater”.  Here is a common version of this children’s nursery rhyme in today’s parlance:

“Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had a wife but couldn’t keep her;

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.”

And so the answer to this week’s quiz is “Had”.  I hope you had some fun with this one.

Congratulations to Nick, who got the right answer within moments.

See you next quiz.