Dear Readers, this turned out to be much more difficult than I expected (but of course it’s always easy when you know the answers :-)). Fran and Bobby Freelove and Claire both tied on matching the descriptions to the birds, with 6 out of 10 each, but Claire also named some of the birds so I am going to make Claire our winner this week. Well done Claire! Let’s see what I can come up for for Sunday’s quiz. 

Descriptions

1. Compensates for size by noisy and overwrought personality. Unexpectedly loud song explodes from near ground level, a hurried jumble of sweet liquid notes, including a jarring trill mid-phrase, overall like excitable commentator enthusing over finish of race.

2. Has a red-hot sex life in which both males and females may hold multiple mates, with fractious consequences.

3) Parents feed large broods (average 10+) for 2 weeks, making 1000 visits a day carrying caterpillars.

4) Cheerful chiming song, a much varying repetition of two notes TEEcher, TEEcher, can be heard everywhere from late Dec until May.

5) Very common mite of woodland and scrub, now increasingly visiting gardens, where it feeds from hanging feeders. Bands of 5-10 relatives spend autumn and winter patrolling large territory, where individuals feed in branches for just a few moments before moving on to the next tree, one after another, always restlessly passing through.

6) Forages on lawns or fields for worms, standing still for a few moments, then making scampering runs forward to grab prey, or stand watchful again: may also make 2-footed hops forward.

7) Makes monotonous 3-note cooing in rhythm of football chant U-NIII-ted; also calls after alighting, a curious mewing with tone of party trumpet.

8) Flight display in straight line: bird rises with wing flaps, stalls as if shot, glides down. When landing, raises tail and slowly drops it.

9) Astonishingly aggressive: spats routine, killing regular.

10)Usually seen adorning thistle-heads, where it can perch horizontal, hold onto the side or hang upside down, often fluttering its wings for balance.

Photo Credits

Photo A Ken Billington, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo B by Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo C Henk Monster, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo D by Alpsdake1, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo E by © Francis C. Franklin / CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo F by © Francis C. Franklin / CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo G by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo H by Keven Law, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Photo I by By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=104326588

Photo Ten by Trish Steel, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons