Birding Quiz

upload.wikimedia.org

This weekend I attended an interesting birding presentation at the Overland Park Arboretum by Dr. David Seibel. Dr. Seibel is a native Kansan and lifelong birder. He holds a Ph.D. in ornithology and is a biology professor at Johnson County Community College, author, poet, and popular lecturer as well as an avid nature photographer. Dr. Seibel also is a coauthor and contributing photo editor for the authoritative Birds of Kansas to be published this spring by the University Press of Kansas.
http://www.davidseibel.com/


http://www.birdsinfocus.com/


Birds of Kansas (May 2011)
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/thobok.html


Anyway, Dr. Seibel mentioned several interesting facts that surprised me. Since so many of our bloggers are from Kansas I thought I'd challenge you with these questions.


The US has over 800 species of birds.
How many species have been seen in Kansas?


A) 211
B) 283
C) 367
D) 473




Everybody knows cardinals are red.
Actually, cardinal plumage (feathers) sometimes have several abnormal colors, including all the following except one. What color is it?


A) Pink
B) White
C) Yellow
D) Green


See cardinal picture at bottom of page for the answers.


Next blog - next week

Snow Bacteria - Answers

Pseudomonas syringae - www.knowledgebank.irri.org

 

We all know (or should know) that eating dirty or yellow snow is a big “no-no”. Those of us who are parents (and live in regions where there are regular snowfalls) teach our children this lesson as quickly as possible.

Back in 2008 scientists were surprised to see a large amount of a specific bacteria in snow - even in "pristine" snow in places like Antarctica and the Yukon. Scientists discovered that there may be a relationship between ice-forming, air-borne bacteria and global rainfall patterns. For those of you who don’t know, the formation of ice in clouds is required for snow and most rainfall. Although dust and soot particles serve as ice formation particles, bacteria ice nuclei are capable of  freezing more quickly at much warmer temperatures. Bottom line:  Bacteria in the atmosphere may affect the processes that trigger precipitation. 

So...... here's my trivia questions:

 

 

What's the bacteria discovered that is so common in snow?
A) Plant bacteria
B) Ocean bacteria
C) Urine bacteria

 

Answer - A  Plant bacteria. Pseudomonas syringae causes diseases on various plants. It also produces proteins which cause water to freeze at fairly high temperatures, resulting in injury to plants. Since the 1970s, P. syringae has been implicated as an atmospheric "biological ice nucleator". Recent evidence has suggested that the species plays a larger role than previously thought in producing rain and snow. 

And now the most important question - how much snow can you safely eat?
A) Don't eat any
B) A little won't hurt
C) You can consume a lot

Answer - B  C'mon - you can eat snow!

Next blog - Next week

Snow bacteria

How many of you experienced this week's extreme snowfall? Good timing eh!

We all know (or should know) that eating dirty or yellow snow is a big “no-no”. Those of us who are parents (and live in regions where there are regular snowfalls) teach our children this lesson as quickly as possible.

Back in 2008 scientists were surprised to see a large amount of a specific bacteria in snow - even in "pristine" snow in places like Antarctica and the Yukon. Scientists discovered that there may be a relationship between ice-forming, air-borne bacteria and global rainfall patterns. For those of you who don’t know, the formation of ice in clouds is required for snow and most rainfall. Although dust and soot particles serve as ice formation particles, bacteria ice nuclei are capable of  freezing more quickly at much warmer temperatures. Bottom line:  Bacteria in the atmosphere may affect the processes that trigger precipitation. 

So...... here's my trivia questions:

What's the bacteria discovered that is so common in snow?
A) Plant bacteria
B) Ocean bacteria
C) Urine bacteria

And now the most important question - how much snow can you safely eat?
A) Don't eat any
B) A little won't hurt
C) You can consume a lot

Answers will be posted in a couple of days

Exploding Star

Betelgeuse, the red supergiant at the top of the constellation of Orion
Photograph credited to www.nightsky.ie

I’ve been contacted by numerous people about a star that may explode within the next 2 years. The star is Betelgeuse – located in the constellation Orion. Go out this week about 8:00 PM – face SSE, look up around 60 degrees (remember 90 degrees is straight overhead) and you should see the above constellation.
Betelgeuse is a red super giant, one of the largest and most luminous stars known. It will go supernova (explode) sometime – the question is when.

The Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/two-suns-twin-stars_n_811864.html  wrote a piece about Betelgeuse – suggesting the supernova will occur in 2012.

Highly unlikely

It also claims the supernova will be so bright that it would be like a second sun.

Wrong

I’m a fan of Phil Plait – creator of Bad Astronomy. If you want to read the REAL SCIENCE behind this plus great illustrations, check out Phil’s blog - http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-and-2012/

Now you can talk intelligently if somebody brings this up!

This is my only blog this week.

Next blog – next week.

Groundhog Day Answers

Collegeboredom.com

With the upcoming media hype surrounding Groundhog Day - Feb 2, I thought I'd throw out some unusual questions.

Groundhogs (woodchucks) can do 2 of the following:

A) Howl

B) Swim

C) Chuck wood

D) Play dead

E) Climb trees

Answers - B & E

If you answered C - you've been watching too many Geico commercials!

Yes, they will climb trees, infrequently.

Groundhogs eat:

A) Insects

B) Green vegetation

C) Baby birds

D) All the above

Answer - D

Yes, they've been known to eat young birds.

However, groundhogs aren't eating now - they're hibernating. Groundhogs are true hibernators whose body temperatures may drop just above freezing!

Next blog - next week.       Dan

Groundhog Day

Groundhog (also known as a woodchuck) Day is Feb 2. 

The most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil - http://www.groundhog.org/

I noticed this year's Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Banquet speaker is Jim Koch - Founder of Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams Beer). Cost to attend the banquet is $25.

Would you pay $25 to hear Jim talk about groundhogs and beer?

 

2 Questions:

Groundhogs (woodchucks) can do 2 of the following:

A) Howl

B) Swim

C) Chuck wood

D) Play dead

E) Climb trees

Groundhogs eat:

A) Insects

B) Green vegetation

C) Baby birds

D) All the above

Answers to this week's blog will be in several days.

American Robin Answers

Thanks for all those who have taken the time to view my new blog! During the winter you don't see a lot of animals, but here in Kansas City I see lots of robins around my bird feeder and heated bird bath. They love the bird bath, but don't eat the seed. I've wondered if these are same robins that have been hanging around all summer. Did some detective work - here are the answers.

1) Everybody knows that during warm weather robins love to eat earthworms.
But what happens when the weather turns cold and earthworms go deep underground.
What do robins eat?

Is it:

A) Leaves
B) Fruits and berries
C) Birdseed
D) All the above

ANSWER - B - fruits and berries.  Large flocks form and range over the countryside in search of berries such as mulberry, sumac, grape, viburnum, and cedar, as they shift from their breeding season diet of insects and earthworms to become wholly vegetarian.

2) When robins migrate, where do they go?

A) North
B) South
C) All the above
D) Robins don't migrate

ANSWER - C - All the above  As long as food is available robins will go anywhere. If food is available locally, they won't migrate.

FYI - hunters in the south used to shoot robins for meat. Robin meat was considered delicious!

Watch for my blog next week.        Dan