Are You A Birder?

Remember Susan's "You Might Be A Birder...." quiz back on Dec. 3rd? That was a lot of fun and I answered "yes" to most of the questions. Now here's another quiz for you.

I was reading the essay "The Passionate Flock" in the Jan/Feb 2008 Audubon magazine this morning. In that article it says that a survey of Americans who watch birds is somewhere between 46 and 67 million! However, there's a disclaimer saying that these surveys "count as a birder anyone who tosses sunflower seeds for the juncos." The article goes on to say that a better way to define "birder" would be the number of people who can identify more than 20 species of birds (this drops the number down to only 6 million) or even those folks who would be able to ID 100 species (narrowing the group called "birder" to a few hundred thousand).

So I got to thinking about this article and wondering to myself how many of us consider ourselves "birders" and I decided to come up with a little visual quiz for you. Shown below are 21 pictures of birds for you to identify. I invite you to take the quiz and identify as many birds as you can (without a field guide - but I've added hints). You can put your answers in the comments section or send me an e-mail (if you're not sure about all the birds - rjknits at msn dot com). I will post the correct answers on Sunday night (hopefully that will give everyone enough time). Good Luck and thanks for playing! (NOTE: All of the following photos were taken in Southeast Minnesota.)

1. Lynne's favorite bird (TURKEY VULTURE)

2. Native to the Arctic (SNOWY OWL)

3. Loves thistle seed (AMERICAN GOLDFINCH)

4. Loves berries (CEDAR WAXWING)

5. A game bird (originally imported from China) (RING-NECKED PHEASANT)

6. Sometimes also called the blackbird (COMMON GRACKLE)

7. Everyone's favorite red bird (NORTHERN CARDINAL)

8. His color and call are his name (BLUEJAY)

9. Gobble, gobble (EASTERN WILD TURKEY)

10. Feigns "broken wing" to lure predators away from its nest (KILLDEER)

11. This duck will nest in a house (WOOD DUCK)

12. This is not a hummingbird (AMERICAN ROBIN)

13. Its song mimics other bird calls & sounds - always repeated twice (BROWN THRASHER)

14. Has a baseball team named after it (BALTIMORE ORIOLE)

15. A bird of happiness (EASTERN BLUEBIRD)

16. This isn't the purple one (HOUSE FINCH)

17. A grassland bird whose numbers are declining (BOBOLINK)

18. A poor nest builder (MOURNING DOVE)

19. This is a baby (HOUSE WREN)

(Sorry, Susan, I wish this was a Carolina Wren--they've been seen in Rochester, but I've never had them out in my neck of the woods)

20. This is the female (not a purple finch!) (ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK)

21. Not a ladder-back! (RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER)

22. Our largest swallow (PURPLE MARTIN)

23. Aw come on....do you really need a hint for this one? (RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD)

24. Other varieties of these include Carolina and Boreal (BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE)

25. Sometimes confused with his much larger, identical cousin (DOWNY WOODPECKER)

If you get 20 or more correct, consider yourself a birder. And if you get less than 20 that's OK too, because the important thing is that you're having fun watching and learning about the birds.

While you're answering these questions, I will be thinking of a prize for the first five "birders" with 21 or more correct answers (it will be something knitted).