What group of familiar birds was once assigned to the genus Urinator–and why?
Post your answer as a comment here at The Wingbeat: The WINGS Birding Blog. The first correct answer, and the wittiest (yet still tasteful) response, will win their authors a WINGS cap, which they can wear with a pride shared by last month’s winners, Grant McCreary and Bob Behrstock.
We’ve always been proud of the clean look and easy “navigation” of the WINGS website, but over the past couple of weeks, a good thing has got even better.
In addition to all the usual information about upcoming tours, the redesigned website now offers “real-time” reports from WINGS leaders in the field, alerts of new itineraries and tour narratives, and a rotating series of breathtaking slideshows.
There’s also a link at the bottom of the page letting you connect to our Facebook account. And we have some other e-tricks still up our sleeve to make our website ever more interactive. Yes, that’s a hint of things to come!
We asked:
You encounter a flock of exactly 100 small sandpipers; careful inspection proves that they are all of the same species. On a whim, you count the toes, coming up with an absolutely accurate total of 602. What is the species?
Famously, the only small sandpiper lacking a hind toe is Sanderling. Thus, a flock of exactly 100 birds of this species should have exactly 600 toes, three per foot. But the hypothetical flock in our question has a total of 602. What gives?
It turns out that the rare individual Sanderling can have hind toes: the first such bird I’m aware of was reported as early as 1904 by Francis H. Allen. Thus, a flock of 100 Sanderlings, including one of these eight-toed deviants, would account for a grand total of 602 toes.
Congratulations to Grant McCreary for the first correct answer and to Bob Behrstock for making us laugh out loud with his pair o’black toes!
The next WINGS trivia question will appear in the November e-newsletter. Have a look, and maybe you’ll join Grant and Bob in keeping your head warm this winter.
California’s second, believe it or not, Ivory Gull is an adult hanging out on Pismo Beach near San Luis Obispo. Gonna be a few birders there in the morning!
We’re birders all, of course, but wouldn’t you look away from the feathered folk for just a moment if you saw that face looking up at you?
Looking “up” because you’d be elephant-back, close enough for the thrill, far enough for safety.
Paul Holt writes about the excitement of our latest tour to Ranthambhore, Nainital, Bharatpur, and Corbett:
We knew instantly what it meant when we heard one of the park guides whistle: people in another vehicle were watching a Tiger! And there, walking right up the middle of the jeep track, was our first Tiger. It was a fantastic encounter, with the animal in view for almost 15 minutes, walking right up the center of the forest road as if she owned it—which we knew she did.
Someone was heard to mutter that any birds we saw after our Tiger would simply be a bonus.
This was our third game drive inside Ranthambhore Tiger Sanctuary, and we’d go on to see two more fine beasts on our fifth and last drive, plus a solitary male at Corbett. That makes seven years in a row that we’ve seen Tigers on this tour….
See out the Year of the Tiger with Paul February 7-24, 2011! Just call us if you have any questions about this fantastic tour, full of birds–and some pretty exciting mammals, too.
Let’s stretch our mathematical muscles this month:
You encounter a flock of exactly 100 small sandpipers; careful inspection proves that they are all of the same species. On a whim, you count the toes, coming up with an absolutely accurate total of 602. What is the species?
Leave your answer as a comment below. The best correct answer and the wittiest incorrect answer will win their authors a WINGS cap.
We asked:
What is the connection between Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, and Napoleon?
We’d expected the Californians to jump on this one.
Both the Modesto Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia mailliardi and the Bicolored Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus mailliardorum are West Coast subspecies named for California’s Mailliard brothers (in the case of the sparrow, for Joseph Mailliard alone). Joseph and John were well-known collectors in the early twentieth century.
Their grandfather, Louis Mailliard, and their father, Adolphe Mailliard, both served as secretary to Joseph Bonaparte, oldest brother of Napoleon and erstwhile King of Spain.
Watch for our new trivia question–this time something mathematical–in the forthcoming October e-newsletter! The winner will earn a WINGS cap and the unbounded admiration of the worldwide birding community.
Paul Lehman looks back on a spectacular fall at Gambell:
I am now back home in San Diego, but Luke DeCicco et al. continue to soldier on at Gambell for another two weeks. After counting 4,375 Spectacled Eiders on 27 Sep, we added another 3,520 birds (again, almost all adult males) on 28 Sep, which included my largest SINGLE flock of the two days of 550 birds. (There are many flocks in the 25-200 range, with a few around 300 or so.) Also on the 28th we had TWO juvenile CHIPPING SPARROWS together (along with a Savannah)–my first-ever “flock” of Chippies at Gambell! Also another Greater Scaup (again, surprisingly casual in fall), and a new late-date for Rough-legged Hawk. Then, late in the afternoon–unlike the Rough-leg–I WAS able to fly off the island!
On 29 Sep, Luke obtained a local guide and visited the major lagoon complex about 10 or so miles ESE of Gambell along the north shore. There, they had an adult ROSS’S GULL feeding in the surf with Red Phalaropes. This is a very early arrival date south of the Bering Strait, the only other such early record for the area being the 4 adults I had at Gambell following the passage of an arctic front beginning on 28+ Sep in 2001. (Ross’s are said to be regular in small numbers at Gambell in Nov/Dec.) Luke also reported an exceptionally late Long-tailed Jaeger (adult), a late Parasitic Jaeger (record late for an adult), and new late dates for Dunlin (a bunch) and Peregrine Falcon. And last but not least, Luke estimated another 5,000+ Spectacled Eiders on the 29th. So the three-day, 27-29 Sep, grand total of Spectacled Eiders there was 13,000+!
Paul Lehman writes:
The news out of Gambell the past 5 days includes the following:
Spectacled Eiders continue to pass by in reduced numbers, with the recent high being 715 birds on 4 Oct. The ratio of females to males in slowly increasing.
Some impressive late dates being set (despite the cold and strong northerly winds the past week) were topped by a NORTHERN WHEATEAR photo’d on the extraordinary date of 4 October. My late date had been 17 Sep (2002)! Also record late were a Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel on 1 Oct, Parasitic Jaeger on 3 Oct, American Pipit on 3 Oct, and Ancient Murrelet and Red-necked Grebe on 4 Oct.
New one-day high counts set include 157 Yellow-billed Loons (all alternate adults) on 4 Oct, 1080 Pigeon Guillemots on 2 Oct, and 207 Common Eiders on 4 Oct.
Other miscellanea include 2 Black Guillemots (first of the season this year), a couple more whitish Gyrfalcons, another Ruby-crowned Kinglet through 3 Oct, Slaty-backed Gull, and 7200 Crested Auklets on 4 Oct being a large number for this late in the season.
How many familiar WINGS faces can you find? Have a look especially at the roundup video from Day Two!
http://www.birdfair.tv/