Our Blog
Read the Latest News

Yo! Pop Quiz!

I thought my time would be mostly my own as the last few bits and pieces of reconstructing our hurricane damage fell into place. I thought WRONG. Oh, so wrong! This last week of inspections and touch-ups and details has been insane, resulting in my not being able to post at all last week, and in really curtailing my activities this week. However, I decided I would touch base with you guys, and figured a brief, little quiz might be fun. With that in mind, pencils sharp everyone. No talking. Eyes on your own paper. And remember, neatness counts!

QUESTION 1. Which of the following three wading birds is the tallest?

a. Great Blue Heron

b. Great Egret

 

c. Sandhill Crane

d. Wood Stork

 

QUESTION 2. Which of the above birds has the widest wing-span?

BONUS QUESTION:  Which of the above birds feeds primarily on land?

 

ANSWERS:

1. Though there can be a wide variation in the height of each of these birds, making this a bit of a trick question, it would appear that the great blue heron is the tallest of the four. Here's the breakdown from tallest to shortest:

Great Blue Heron: 45" to 54"
Sandhill Crane: 48"
Wood Stork: 33" to 45"

Great Egret: 40"

2. The ranking order changes a bit when you compare wingspans. Here's the breakdown, from longest wings to shortest:

Sandhill Crane: 73" to a whopping 90"
Great Blue Heron: 77" to 82"

Wood Stork: 65"
Great Egret: 54" to 55"

Notice that in both cases, the Great Blue Heron and the Sandhill crane are the big boys of the group. The Great Blue heron averages taller, and the sandhill can really stretch those wings out. (If you've observed them soaring overhead, you might not be surprised at that.)

And in both instances, the wood stork comes in third, and the great egret is last. So even though egrets look like pretty tall birds, they'd probably seem quite dainty standing right beside a great blue heron or a sandhill crane.

BONUS ANSWER:

If you've spent much time around these birds, you'll probably guess that the sandhill crane, though technically considered a wading bird, spends a good portion of its time feeding in grassy fields and urban yards. It does wade, and will take the typical food found in shallow water, but a large portion of its diet is vegetative, chiefly seed heads and grain.

So there you have my little quiz, and I hope you found it interesting. Now that the FINAL inspection has been completed on my house repairs, and all that's left to do is wrangle with the insurance companies, my life should be getting back to normal again. I'm determined to get back to my regular Wednesday posts, and will be planning something fun for you for next week.

See You Then!

 

 

 

 

 

To Paraphrase Neil Sedaka - Catching Up is Hard To...
The Fairest of Them All - My Top Ten

Related Posts

 

Comments

No comments made yet. Be the first to submit a comment
Already Registered? Login Here
Guest
Tuesday, 19 March 2024

Captcha Image