How many familiar WINGS faces can you find? Have a look especially at the roundup video from Day Two!

http://www.birdfair.tv/

Liz Payne writes from Tucson:

Loving the cooler weather, and the snakes are loving warm concrete. Last night on our evening constitutional, touring the streets around our pristine, grass-filled-Palm-Springs-esque (not a native plant in sight) townhouse, we enjoyed our own bat night along the Tanque Verde wash, with another amazing sunset.

Just as we arrived home, we came upon a tiny new 8” rattler who seemed a bit squished. Robert poked at it, and unexpectedly raised it from the dead. As soon as the bugger figured out what was going on, it coiled into position—tail rattling like mad (well, vibrating: it was little). We ditched the dogs and quickly formulated a catch and release. Grabbed a shovel (Roberto) and broom (Liz) to brush the snake into said spade.

I swept at it a bit to no avail, but after a few fierce  strikes, we relocated the critter squarely onto the shovel. Robert took off down the street, where he planned to pitch it where the concrete descends and stops abruptly about eight feet above the dry creek. It was almost dark by now, and of course the uncooperative creature fell off several times from here to there, each time moving faster and getting angrier. Needless to say, it was quite pissy by the time Robert neared the guardrail.

Robert, racing with writhing snake, cleared the railing ok, but when he hit the ground, I yelled “ahhhhhhhhhh!”

Baby rattler flew through the air; Robert careened to a halt. Just in front of the three-and-a-half-foot rattler now at his feet, lazing along the edge of the wash.

Great way to end the relaxation of a mesmerizing sunset.

Let’s go for something historical this time:

What is the connection between Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, and Napoleon?

The winning answer will draw the connection as elegantly as possible, in the fewest possible steps–and to make it a little more challenging, the answer may not mention the  emperor’s (illegitimate) nephew Charles Lucien Bonaparte.

Leave your answer as a comment here. The best correct answer, and the wittiest incorrect answer, will win their authors a WINGS cap.

Our August question was a hard one, I thought:

Which breeding landbird of the eastern US and Canada molts its primaries in the sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10-9?

But not too hard for Grant McCreary or for this month’s winner, Dick Cannings, both of whom identified Ruby-throated Hummingbird as the species in question.

And why do ruby-throats (and other hummingbirds) shed their wing feathers in such an odd sequence? We’ll let Steve Howell, author of the new (and wonderful) Peterson Reference Guide to Molt in North American Birds answer that one:

“Because P9 is the largest and heaviest primary, precision flight might be compromised if P9 were shed first, when P10 could be quite worn. Thus replacing P10 first provides more support for the growth of P9.”

Watch for our new question in the September WINGS e-newsletter!