Browse the pictures from the first quizzes !

QUIZ 1

Grey-headed Albatross - Diomedea chrysostoma
Albatrosses are amongst the largest flying birds and are characterized by their exceptionally long, narrow wings. These have enabled them to not only become prodigious flyers but also one of the most oceanic of all seabirds. the Grey-headed Mollymawk has a circumpolar distribution in Southern ocean, breeding from Cape Horn to Campbell Island, mostly between 65° S and 35°S. No reliable records were made in the Northern hemisphere until now.

QUIZ 2

Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa Flavipes
A remarkably elegant American species, but often difficult to distinguish from the other Tringa. The lesser yellowlegs is a slim, long-bodied, wader with long bright yellow (sometimes orange, sometimes greener) legs and a relatively short bill. In flight it shows dark upperwings and a squarish white patch on the rump. Of course, care is required to separate this species from its larger relative, the Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca, best features being body size, shape and color of bill and call. The eurasian Wood Sandpiper, Tringa glareola, is also very similar, especially to juvenile Lesser, both show brownish, heavily spotted upperparts, squarish white rump and yellowish legs. Wood Sandpiper differs however in its relatively shorter legs, bill, neck and wings; it also has browner plumages with longer, more contrasted supercilia. The bird photographed here has also been identified by many as a Solitary Sandpiper, Tringa solitaria. This bird is the nearctic counterpart of the Old World Green Sandpiper, Tringa Ochropus. It's a fairly slender, small, dark Tringa with dark wings and rump. At a distance, may resemble Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia but is slightly larger and more slender, has darker legs, and much greater contrast between the dark upperparts and white belly. The solitary differs markedly from green sandpiper in flight showing a dark rump and center to the tail. White barring is also broader than on Green Sandpiper. At rest, differs from latter in smaller size, slimmer outline with wings extending slightly beyond the tail, and broader whitish eye-ring. The carpal and the leading edge of the folded wing sometimes show as a dark line between the slightly paler outer median coverts and the white underparts. Three or four dark bars may be visible on the edge of the tail.The bill is dull greenish at base, shading to blackish at tip. Sometimes the bill-tip is faintly drooped. The iris is brown, legs are dull greyish-green or more yellowish in juveniles. This characteristic probably explains most of the misdiagnosis...

Photographed by David Rintoul.

QUIZ 3

Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus
The boreal Owl is one of the most secretive and sought-after of all american and european owls. It usually avoid open country and diurnal activity. This small brown owl, which may appear greyish in headlight's beam, is best recognized by the prominent black facial frames which give the "earless" owl a square-headed profile and a "surprised" expression. The bill is yellowish. The bird proposed for this quiz was a juvenile (left), chocolate brown with white eyebrows and cheeks spots. By contrast, adult birds (right) present black borders on facial disks, fine spots on forehead and white patches on scapulars.

Photographed by Serge Sorbi.

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