50 Fun Facts About Birdwatching

Which fictional spy takes his name from the author of the 1936 field guide Birds of the West Indies?

James Bond was a real American ornithologist whose book Ian Fleming, a keen birdwatcher, knew from his home in Jamaica. Fleming wanted a name that sounded as ordinary as possible.

On birdwatching binoculars marked 8x42, what does the second number, 42, measure in millimetres?

Objective lens diameter is the second number: the wider the front lenses, the more light they gather and the sharper the view. The first number, 8, is the magnification.

Which feather-trimmed fashion item led two Boston cousins to found the Massachusetts Audubon Society?

Hats decorated with plumes, and even whole birds, were driving a commercial slaughter. Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall enlisted 900 women, and new laws eventually ended the plume trade.

Which 2011 comedy stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as birders chasing a record?

The Big Year is based on Mark Obmascik's book about three real birders competing to identify the most species in North America within twelve months.

Which storm-tracking technology lets ornithologists count the birds migrating overhead on a given night?

Weather radar bounces off flocks as well as rain, revealing how many birds are aloft on a given night and which way they are heading.

Which chilli compound is added to some bird seed because squirrels feel the burn but birds do not?

Capsaicin triggers a pain receptor in mammals that does not respond in birds. Wild chilli plants benefit too: birds swallow the seeds whole and spread them in their droppings.

What British nickname describes a birder who travels long distances to see a reported rare bird?

A twitcher was first named in the 1950s for the nervous behaviour of British birdwatcher Howard Medhurst. North American birders call the same pursuit chasing.

Which bird, known for trailing gardeners to snatch worms, won a 2015 vote for Britain's national bird?

The robin took 34% of the final vote in a poll organised by birdwatcher David Lindo. It had already been adopted as the unofficial national bird after a 1960s vote publicised by The Times.

Which US president, a published ornithologist, listed the birds he saw on the White House grounds?

Theodore Roosevelt was a keen naturalist from boyhood, and as president he helped establish 51 federal bird reserves. He drew up his White House list in 1908.

Which viewing aid is named in the title of Florence Merriam Bailey's pioneering 19th-century bird guide?

An opera glass was Bailey's tool for watching living birds outdoors, at a time when most study meant examining shot specimens. Her book has been called the first field guide to American birds.

Which annual Audubon census began in 1900 as an alternative to shooting contests known as side hunts?

The Christmas Bird Count was ornithologist Frank Chapman's idea: tally the birds instead of competing to kill the most. Chapman founded Bird-Lore, the magazine that became Audubon.

Which hard fat from around the kidneys of cattle is pressed into cakes as a winter food for wild birds?

Suet cakes are often mixed with rolled oats, bird seed, cornmeal, raisins and unsalted nuts. The raw fat can also come from lamb or mutton.

Which small feeder bird with a black cap and bib is named after the sound of its alarm call?

The chickadee adds extra dee notes to its alarm call as the danger grows, so listeners can tell how serious a predator is.

Which fruit do backyard birders cut in half and set out on feeders to attract Baltimore orioles?

Oranges suit a bird with a sweet tooth: Baltimore orioles also sip from hummingbird feeders and are fond of grape jelly.

What ratio of water to white sugar is the standard recipe for homemade hummingbird feeder nectar?

Four to one, water to plain white sugar, is the normal mix. Raw, turbinado and other unrefined sugars must be avoided because the iron they contain could be lethal to hummingbirds.

Which daily burst of birdsong has its own international day on the first Sunday in May?

The dawn chorus peaks in spring, when birds are defending breeding territories and trying to attract mates. On the international day, people rise early to listen at organised events.

Which American artist's 1934 A Field Guide to the Birds is seen by some as the first modern one?

Roger Tory Peterson built an identification system on clear illustrations and the field marks that separate similar species. New editions of his guide kept appearing for decades.

Which 19th-century book by John James Audubon shows 435 life-size prints on pages over three feet tall?

The Birds of America is nicknamed the Double Elephant Folio for its size. Robert Havell of London engraved and printed nearly all of the plates, and a team of more than fifty colourists painted them by hand.

What one-word name do birders give a species they are seeing for the very first time?

A lifer is an addition to the life list, the record many birders keep of every species they have ever seen, usually with the date and place.

Which household disinfectant, diluted one part to nine with water, is advised for soaking bird feeders?

Bleach can remove bacteria and viruses more effectively than soap and water alone. Feeder parts are soaked for ten minutes, rinsed carefully and dried completely before reassembly.

Which imported seed, often mislabelled as thistle, is a favourite of finches at backyard feeders?

Nyjer is a trademarked spelling, adopted by the wild bird feeding industry to stop the plant's older name, niger, being mispronounced. The seed is no thistle: that label was early marketing.

Which feeder seed has a thinner shell and larger kernel than the striped variety of the same plant?

Black-oil sunflower seeds are also rich in fat, which makes them especially good winter fuel. Their thin outer shell is easier to crack than other kinds.

Which crested North American bird imitates red-shouldered hawks, possibly to scare rivals off food?

The blue jay may also be testing whether a real hawk is nearby. For all the bluster, jays at feeders frequently give way to other medium-sized birds.

Which small woodland bird, a regular at feeders, is known for climbing down tree trunks head-first?

The nuthatch can also hang upside-down beneath twigs and branches, gripping with its powerful feet. It eats mostly insects, nuts and seeds.

Which North American songbirds recovered after volunteers set up long trails of nest boxes for them?

Bluebirds had declined by up to 70% by the 1970s, losing nesting cavities to introduced house sparrows and starlings. The volunteer-run trails are largely credited with the upsurge that followed.

Which hummingbird, eastern North America's commonest, can fly 900 miles nonstop over the Gulf of Mexico?

Ruby-throated hummingbirds winter from Florida and Mexico southwards, and some make the sea crossing in a single flight on their way north to breed.

Which North American owl is nicknamed the eight-hooter after the rhythm of its best-known call?

The barred owl gives eight accented hoots that drop in pitch at the end, a rhythm birders memorise as a question about who is doing the cooking.

Which woodpecker, nicknamed the Lord God Bird, sparked a major search after a 2004 report from Arkansas?

Ivory-billed woodpeckers were the largest in the United States, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology led the search. Later reports are disputed, and many sources argue the bird is likely extinct.

Which South American country ranks first in the world for bird species, with almost a fifth of them?

Colombia holds about 18% of the world's bird species, including the greatest diversity of hummingbirds, wrens and tanagers of any country.

Which compact tripod-mounted telescope do birders use when shorebirds are too distant for binoculars?

A spotting scope typically magnifies 20 to 60 times, far beyond ordinary binoculars. That power exaggerates every tremor, which is why it needs a steady support.

Which Cornell Lab and Audubon database, launched in 2002, has logged over a billion bird sightings?

eBird gives scientists real-time data on where birds are and how abundant they are, drawn from the observations of amateur naturalists as well as researchers.

Which Cornell Lab app can name hundreds of North American birds in real time from their songs?

Merlin Bird ID can pick out species even when several are calling at once, and since 2017 it has also recognised birds from photographs.

Which US state hosts the World Series of Birding, a 24-hour species-counting contest run since 1984?

New Jersey Audubon organises the event, in which teams race to identify the greatest number of species by sight or sound in a single day.

Which remote Scottish island, famed for its knitwear, has a bird observatory known for rare migrants?

Fair Isle has produced at least 27 species never before recorded in Britain, and it is rated one of western Europe's best places to find skulking Siberian songbirds.

Which US law's centenary led Audubon and National Geographic to declare 2018 a celebration of birds?

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 made it unlawful to hunt, capture, kill or sell nearly 1,100 listed species without a waiver. BirdLife International and the Cornell Lab joined the 2018 campaign.

Which federal permit, its artwork chosen in a yearly public contest, funds land for national wildlife refuges?

The Duck Stamp must be bought before any waterfowl hunting in the United States, and it doubles as an entry pass at refuges that charge admission. Sales have conserved more than 6 million acres of wetland habitat.

What do birders call a bird that turns up far outside its normal range after a navigation error?

A vagrant can draw hobbyists from great distances, and tracking such strays is useful citizen science. If enough of them wander to a new area, they can even establish a new population.

What do birders call a mass movement of birds far beyond their usual range when food runs short?

An irruption typically follows a good breeding season and then a failed food source. Red crossbills are a classic case: their invasions of England were recorded as early as 1251.

What name do birders give to imitating a scolding alarm call to coax hidden songbirds into view?

Pishing is thought to work because it resembles the scold calls of tits, which draw other birds in to investigate a possible threat.

What do the initials LBJ stand for when birders use them for hard-to-identify songbirds?

Little brown job covers the many small brown species that are notoriously difficult to tell apart, especially females that lack the males' distinguishing colours.

In British birding slang, what word describes travelling to see a rare bird and failing to find it?

Dipping, or dipping out, is every rarity hunter's dread. A birder who then hears all about the bird from someone who did see it has been gripped off.

Which American, spurred by a terminal cancer diagnosis, became the first birder to see 8,000 species?

Phoebe Snetsinger took up birding avidly at 50 and outlived her prognosis by about 18 years, surviving malaria and a hostage-taking along the way. She died in a road accident on a birding trip to Madagascar.

Which American birder was the first person to record half the world's bird species in a single year?

Noah Strycker started on 1 January 2015 in Antarctica and logged 6,042 species across 41 countries and all seven continents. His record fell in 2016 to Arjan Dwarshuis.

Which British ornithologist's 1901 book title first put the phrase bird watching into print?

Edmund Selous championed studying living birds rather than collecting their skins and eggs. The word birdwatcher is much older: its first recorded use dates to 1712.

What technical name do birders use for the pale stripe above a bird's eye, often called the eyebrow?

The supercilium runs from the base of the beak back over the eye and is usually paler than the feathers around it. Its colour and shape can be a useful clue when identifying a species.

Which visual plot of pitch against time do some bird field guides print to show songs?

A sonogram is objective where descriptive phrases are a matter of opinion, though reading one takes experience. The 1966 Golden Guide to North American birds was an early field guide to print them.

Which migration route narrows over Nebraska's Platte River, where vast flocks of sandhill cranes stop?

The Central Flyway follows the Great Plains between the Canadian Prairies and the Gulf of Mexico. Its squeeze through the river valleys of Nebraska accounts for the high number of species found there.

Which month, one of the hardest for wild birds, is National Bird-Feeding Month in the United States?

February was proclaimed in 1994 by Illinois congressman John Porter, who read a resolution into the Congressional Record. The observance was created to teach the public about feeding and watching wild birds.

Which black-and-white wading bird became the RSPB's logo after returning to breed in Suffolk in 1947?

The avocet had disappeared from Britain in the mid-19th century, and its successful return to the Minsmere reserve led the charity to adopt it as an emblem.

Which woodpecker looks almost identical to North America's smaller downy, apart from a longer beak?

The hairy woodpecker is so much bigger than the downy that the two barely compete, yet their plumage is a near-perfect match. Unspotted white tail feathers are another clue.