Bird Trivia you can Forget
- Doug Bird (James Douglas Bird), a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1973 to 1983. Unfortunately, after good work in the ’76 and ’77 playoffs, Bird is most known for surrendering a two-run homer to Thurman Munson in the 8th inning of Game Three during the 1978 ALCS.
Trivia: Where does Bird rank on the Royals all-time saves list? Answer: Bird ranks fourth on the Royals all-time saves list with 58.
- The Mockery Bird is a humorous novel by Gerald Durrell, published in 1981. It, like the other works of the author, contains a strong environmental message. The fictitious bird species of the book, the Mockery Bird is a flightless bird about the size of a goose. It has blue feathers, long legs and a large beak, similar to that of a hornbill.
Trivia: Though the story of the Mockery Bird is fictitious, there was another bird species thought to be extinct, and then re-discovered. What was that bird? Answer: The takahe from New Zealand. - Bird Cherry(ies)The bird cherries are a subgenus of the genus Prunus, characterized by having deciduous leaves, flowers 12-30 together on slender racemes produced in late spring well after leaf emergence, and small, sour fruit usually only palatable to birds, hence the name. They are native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Bird cherry is sometimes used as a food plant by Lepidoptera species including Brimstone Moth.
Variation: Chokecherries – Some bird cherries such as chokecherries are used to make jelly and wine in North America.
Trivia: What type of bird are bird cherries? Answer: They are plants, not birds, however usually only birds eat their sour fruit.
Trivia: What country does the blooming of the Bird Cherry signal the start of summer? Answer: In Finland the blooming of bird cherry signifies the start of the summer for many people. In Southern Finland this normally takes place during the two last weeks of May or very early June. - Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and northern Asia. It is more of a conifer specialist than the closely related Marsh Tit, which explains it breeding much further north. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate. These birds feed on caterpillars, insects and seeds, much like other tits.
Trivia: What Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was the Willow Tit immortalized in? Answer: The bird was immortalized in Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1885 operetta, The Mikado, in the song “Willow Tit Willow”.
- Charlie “bird” Parker – Charlie Parker, himself nicknamed Bird, wrote and played a song entitled “Bird of Paradise”. Charles Parker, Jr. (1920 – 1955) was an influential American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker acquired the nickname “Yardbird” early in his career, and the shortened form “Bird” remained Parker’s nickname for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as “Yardbird Suite” and “Ornithology.” He also had an album titled “Bird With Strings”.
Trivia: What was the “Bird’s first bird nickname? Answer: “Yardbird”
Trivia: What was a popular “bird” song his group played, named after a beautiful bird? Answer: “Bird of Paradise” - Larry Bird (Larry Joe Bird), is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started as small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons. Due to back problems, he retired as a player from the NBA in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently holds.
Trivia: http://www.nba.com/news/birdat50_trivia1.jsp
What’s your bird quote for today? CLICK for –> my personal Bluebird quote.
A flightless bird
A Magpie Goose. Taken at Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria Australia. Photo by Dushy / SA-BY-1.0
Here’s the famous duck test of a bygone era. CLICK HERE
A Few Bird Trivia Facts
- The largest bird egg in the world today is the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their large size and thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil. The average adult male ostrich, the world’s largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.
Beware of ostriches. They can kick with tremendous force, but only forward. - Since 1600, 109 species and subspecies of birds have become extinct.
- A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
- 90 percent of bird species are monogamous.
- The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift. It’s been clocked at speeds of up to 220 mph.
- If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die, they need gravity to swallow and air to breath.
- Many species of bird copulate in the air. In general, a couple will fly to a very high altitude, and then drop. During their descent, the birds mate.
- The only known poisonous bird in the world is the hooded pitohui of Papua, New Guinea. The poison is found in its skin and feathers.
- A bird’s normal body temperature is usually 7-8 degrees hotter than a human’s. Up to three-quarters of the air a bird breathes is used just for cooling down since they are unable to sweat.
- Ancient Romans ate flamingo tongues and considered them a delicacy.
- A bird’s heart beats 400 times per minute while resting and up to 1000 beats per minute while flying.
- Air sacs may make up 1/5 of the body volume of a bird.
Here’s a favorite bird and poem you may have heard. CLICK HERE
