As always, the “Just for Fun Avian ID Quiz” is brought to you by Jory Langner, our esteemed Avian Quizmaster. Jory had a heck of a Thanksgiving and we think the turkey is still having some effect on him…
Rules are the usual, regularly occurring birds in the ABA area (Code 1-3), the question to be answered is at the end of the clues, and the answer will be posted on Saturday (more or less).
Good luck!
- Some of the other species you might have on your day list are Fox Sparrow, Wrentit, California Thrasher and Sage Sparrow.
- “Finger painted by a toddler”?
- Earlier this year, a half dozen eggs of this species sold for about $50.
- A Pete Dunn field mark from afar is eerily similar to a song sung by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (1965), covered famously by Linda Ronstadt (1976) and is ranked #50 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
- In the vein of “things you learned while searching for something else”…being that I live in the US and last week was Thanksgiving, I had recently been researching Wild Turkey.
QUESTION
Without mentioning the species, what is interesting about this species migration?
Good Luck! And stay tuned for the answer.
Jory's first field guide-identified bird was a Northern Cardinal. This turned out to be his gateway drug into birding. In 2007 Jory became the least accomplished birder to see 300 birds in New York State in one year. He has birded the world over but maintains his birding "beginner mind", of which he is inordinately proud. Just ask him. Jory is the 10,000 Birds Avian Quizmaster, coming up with ever more diabolical ways to stump his legion of devoted fans. He lives with his wife and the possessions of his children just outside of Albany NY.
They migrate on foot.
And the migration is altitudinal.
I suspect John and Jason got the sought after responses, but I’ll throw in something I find interesting about their migration: they (apparently) use ravines and valleys during fall migration and ridge tops during spring migration. They’ll use roads, too.
Great quiz!
I must not be very good at these. I didn’t figure it out until I cheated and read the previous comments. Good job, guys!
I must be way off, since my guess was:
They are a partial migrant (by wing not foot).
This doesn’t mesh with the others.
You guys have me befuddled.
1)The listed birds can all be found in the same territory as what I’ve got in mind.
2)I read EXACTLY this description of my bird somewhere, but can’t remember exactly where.
3)No idea.
4)Another perfect match for what I’ve got in mind.
5)More befuddlement.
My species doesn’t migrate on foot, though it does do so altitudinally in the Northwest.