As always, the “Just for Fun Avian ID Quiz” is brought to you by Jory Langner, our esteemed Avian Quizmaster.
On a personal note, this year I’m conducting a “Little Year”. No snickering please. I consider it a hybrid, half Big Year (seeing as many species as possible) and half small carbon footprint (local to Region 8 in NY with limited chasing within the region). My goal is 225 different species. I’m off to a dismal start with only 54 birds seen so far. You can follow my progress, along with that of the other birders in the region doing a “Little Year” on our wiki page.
On to the quiz. I’m invoking Quizmaster’s discretion by suspending the “ABA Codes 1-3 only” rule for this quiz. The two questions that need to be answered appear at the end of the list of clues. Check back in several days when the answers will appear in the comment thread.
Clues:
– Male and female similar
– Pointed tail
– Mostly greenish. Orange forehead, lores, area around the eyes and upper cheeks. The rest of head and upper part of neck are yellow.
– Incas
– Lady Jane
– Feb 21, 1918
– A direct quote from a very famous ornithologist: “All the survivors rise, shriek, fly round about for a few minutes, and again alight on the very place of most imminent danger. The gun is kept at work; eight or ten, or even twenty, are killed at every discharge. The living birds, as if conscious of the death of their companions, sweep over their bodies, screaming as loud as ever, but still return to the stack to be shot at, until so few remain alive, that the farmer does not consider it worth his while to spend more of his ammunition.”
Question: Without giving away the intent of this quiz, where did the Feb 21, 1918 occur?
“Experts-only” Question: How is “Martha” related?
Good luck!
The bird is the Carolina parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis (though, for the record, I had no idea until reading the quote).
Martha, of course, was the last known surviving passenger pigeon. She passed away in the same zoo that was home to the last known surviving Carolina parakeet.
The Cincinnati Zoo. Martha was there too.
Yes, Martha passed away in the same zoo. In fact, I have read reports that it was even the same cage. Sigh.
54 Species for Region 8 is a good start (heck I only have 48 right now), we have no large bodies of water and what water we do have isn’t open. Its been cold so the half-hardies are gone. This isn’t easy, its not like NYC where all the birds are crammed into small areas, you have to work for each bird up here even the common ones! But as a group we are up to 83 species for January, with a few glaring misses right now (Ruffed Grouse!), I think that is pretty impressive.
Besides can you really complain about seeing Snowy and Short-eared Owls? Merlin? A Bullock’s Oriole? I can’t, It’s only been 3 weeks but I’ve been having a blast. Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint.
@Will: “Dismal start” were the words Jory used when he first sent me this quiz and his year list totaled 29 species. I changed the number to reflect his current total but did not change the description (perhaps “robust” should take the place of “dismal”?).
And I will say that yes, living down here is nice, especially considering that in the first four days of the new year I was up to 75 species…
@Corey and @Will: I have since decided to change the name from “little year”. Currently it is called the cumbersome “NYS Region 8 – 2009 Bird Run for Fun”, but I’m looking for a shorter pithier name. Any suggestions?
@ Jory… “Knickerbocker Cup”?