Woodwarblerquizanswers

The Dirty Dozen - A Wood Warbler Trivia Quiz

1. Guess the correct English names for the species, which also have been known by these alternate names.
ANSWERS:
a. Bog Blackthroat                             a. Connecticut Warbler
b. Autumnal Warbler                          b. Blackpoll Warbler
c. Nightwalker or Wood Wagtail         c. Ovenbird
d. Bay-cheeked Warbler                     d. Cape May Warbler
e. Spotted Warbler                             e. Magnolia Warbler
f. Quebec Warbler                               f. Chestnut-sided Warbler
g. Yellow Tip-up or Wagtail Warbler g. Yellow Palm Warbler
h. Birch Warbler                                 h. Nashville Warbler
*Source: Field Book of Eastern Birds, Leon Augustus Hausman, Putnam, 1946

2. Only one species of Dendroica in North America is not dimorphic — i.e., its plumage is the same in male and female, as well as immature birds (although there are seasonal changes). What is the species?
2. ANSWER: Palm warbler.
*Source: Warblers of the Americas, Jon Curson et al., Houghton Mifflin,
1994.

3. What is the English translation of Helmitheros vermivorus?
3. ANSWER: Worm-hunting worm-eater.
*Source: Wood Warblers’ World, Hal H. Harrison, Simon & Schuster, 1984.

4. Three species of North American wood warblers share the honor of being the
earliest to receive Latin names by Linnaeus. Which three, and what year?
4. ANSWER: American Redstart, Northern Parula and Yellow-breasted Chat
(although it was first classified as a Turdus), 1758.
*Source: Warblers of the Americas, Jon Curson et al., Houghton Mifflin,
1994.

5. Which North American warbler was the last to be named, and what year?
5. ANSWER: Colima Warbler, 1889, Salvin and Goodman
*Source: Warblers of the Americas, Jon Curson et al., Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

6. What was the last warbler discovered in the Americas, and what year?
6. ANSWER: Elfin Woods Warbler, Puerto Rico, 1972.
*Source: Warblers of the Americas.

7. Which species may be relegated to a “sister group” outside the warbler family, based on DNA-DNA hybridization?
7. ANSWER: Olive Warbler
*Source: A Field Guide to the Warblers of North America, Jon Dunn/Kimball Garrett, 1997.

8. Certain warbler species have prominent rictal bristles, which are:
    a. specialized feathers found on nectar-loving birds that are used like a bottlebrush when feeding on certain flowers.
    b. stiff hairlike feathers found below the vent, frequently used by birds to direct fecal matter away from the nest.
    c. stiff hairlike feathers around the gape of the mouth, frequently found in birds that catch flying insects.
8. ANSWER: c.
     *Source (for “c” only): Dunn/Garrett
9. Among the 25 species of warblers depicted on the only color plate in the first edition (1941) of Roger Tory Peterson’s A Field Guide to Western Birds are the Pileolated Warbler, Sennett’s Warbler and the Calaveras Warbler. How are they known today?
9. ANSWER: Wilson’s Warbler, Tropical Parula and Nashville Warbler.

10. Only two species of wood warblers are cavity nesters. Name both.
10. ANSWER: Prothonotary and Lucy’s.
*Source: Dunn/Garrett.

11. What significant ornithological event occurred along the Potomac River near Washington in the spring of 1955?
11. ANSWER: A Bachman’s Warbler was seen. It is among the last confirmed sightings. (The last confirmed sighting was in 1962.) Source: The Warblers of America, Ludlow Griscom and Alexander Sprunt, The Devin-Adair Co., 1957. However, Dunn/Garrett make no mention of the 1955 sighting, while they do mention a bird found in Fairfax County, Va., in 1954.

12. Which subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler would one find in Anchorage?
12. ANSWER: It is the Eastern race, the Myrtle, rather than the Western
Audubon’s.
*Source: Personal experience, as well as Dunn/Garrett.

Prepared by Sandy Sherman for Delaware Valley Ornithological Club program,
5/21/98. Feel free to reproduce, with credit.

Sandy Sherman
Collingdale, PA
paavocet@aol.com

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