Here’s a little quiz with two questions.
What do Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler have in common? Do you know? Can you guess? You’re right—they were not named after presidents. However, since they do share a last name with a former president, it seems appropriate to learn about this Lincoln and this Wilson on President’s Day.
Lincoln’s Sparrow is a cute little bird. Its brown feathers are suffused with a coppery tint. (I use the copper color as a handy mnemonic—coppery bird, copper penny sporting a profile of Lincoln.)
We name our computers. Doesn’t everyone?
No, we don’t consider them pets. (Although we do name our chickens, and they are pets to a great degree.)
We name our computers because we have so many. I work from home, Pete’s ministry occupies an office in town that he shares with co-workers, and we’re all networked together—hence, lots of computers. They have to have names so the network can tell them apart. And while we could have given them any names at all, that just seemed boring. We decided to stick with a theme.
How good are you at avian ID? Identification quizzes abound, and I find them both fun and educational. Some are really difficult, made for experts. Mine are more aimed at the beginning to intermediate birder. Who knows, maybe I’ll even slip in a few that have me confounded.
I aim to post one quiz a month during 2012. My answers will be provided the following Monday. And please note: I am certainly not an expert at this. If I get something wrong, let me know. I can always stand to improve my own skills!
Many quizzes don’t include any information about where or when the photos were taken. That doesn’t seem fair to me. In real life birding, we always (hopefully!) know where we are and what the date is. Of course, birds tend to stray a bit, so I’m not sure how helpful this information is going to be.
Mountain Plover 