Wow shocked at the low scores on this one. I'm no birdwatcher, but I'd heard of at least half of these. Only 39% have heard of an Oystercatcher?? They're common on virtually every single coastline across the world
It is, at the very least, difficult for non-native English speakers, I can tell you that. But I'm open to learning and this could be educational even though the quiz is clearly unbalanced.
I'm no birdwatcher and I've heard of maybe four of these. Interestingly, lots of people don't live anywhere a coast and I'm sure plenty of people who do couldn't care less about the birds. Plus the above comment, that's not what the percentages mean.
In practise, that's how it works. You go down the list clicking the ones you've heard of first. Reduction and logical reasoning comes afterwards. If you've heard of an Oystercatcher, you click on Oystercatcher way before making risky guesses.
In theory, that's how it works and maybe in practice for you. I'm sure plenty of people don't take it that way, particularly if they don't know much about the topic (if you only recognize four of the names then everything after is a 'risky guess' and 'reduction and logical reasoning' might come in less handy when most of the options are still available)
You have to either know all of the right ones, or enough of the wrong ones to eliminate them.
And if you guess wrong or misclick it ends it before you can click all of the ones you know. It helps to guess the ones you're confident on before making guesses, but not everyone does that
Oystercatcher sorta sounded familiar, so I saved that one for the group I would guess on. After contemplating where oysters live, and what it might take for a bird to reach them (pictured a bird in SCUBA gear), I decided to guess on a different choice...which happened to be incorrect.
BTW, to my knowledge, we don't have oystercatchers on the Jersey Shore. (if we do, they never introduced themselves to me)
You do! The American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) is present all along the shore in spring and summer.
Sadly you're a bit late to catch them this year, but you might get some stragglers — someone reported a small flock at Cape May a couple days ago. You're most likely to see one in May and July, but most likely to see big impressive flocks in late January and mid-October.
They can be a bit shy (compared to, like, gulls, who will confidently scream in your face), so you might want to go to the beach when few people are around (dawn, dusk, bad weather, weekdays) and grab a pair of binoculars.
Around here they're just called sandpipers (yes, aware they're not actually sandpipers, people simply don't make the distinction, especially since we have no oysters in these waters).
Nice! I think I got merlins confused with marlins, and mullets definitely seem like something a bird would have haha (also mullet is spelled with only one t)
"Barnacle" is a reasonable way to refer to a barnacle goose. I figured I'd click all the other birds, and if I had one remaining at the end I'd include barnacle.
Might I suggest changing it to "limpet"? It's also a seashell, avoids this problem, but is nicely tricky because it's similar to "limpkin".
I go through all the ones I know for sure. I have 22 left, 16 of which aren't birds. I know for sure 13 aren't birds. The very first one I guess is wrong. fml
Birdwatcher here. I'm amazed shoebill and kakapo are so widely gotten. I'm surprised teal and bittern are not. Teal and bittern species are widely distributed, and shoebill and kakapo are not.
Teal has replaced smew that was much more difficult, but the stats have not been reset. Kakapo is something special, I had heard about it, and it has the same name in several languages, which helps many cultured takers. On the other hand, I had never seen the word "bittern", but I know of course the french equivalent "butor"... As for the shoebill, well "bill" is a serious clue, even if you don't know the bird.
Anyway, you're obviously biased, and you shouldn't be haughty like that. This list is very difficult, too much in my opinion.
And if you guess wrong or misclick it ends it before you can click all of the ones you know. It helps to guess the ones you're confident on before making guesses, but not everyone does that
BTW, to my knowledge, we don't have oystercatchers on the Jersey Shore. (if we do, they never introduced themselves to me)
Sadly you're a bit late to catch them this year, but you might get some stragglers — someone reported a small flock at Cape May a couple days ago. You're most likely to see one in May and July, but most likely to see big impressive flocks in late January and mid-October.
They can be a bit shy (compared to, like, gulls, who will confidently scream in your face), so you might want to go to the beach when few people are around (dawn, dusk, bad weather, weekdays) and grab a pair of binoculars.
Might I suggest changing it to "limpet"? It's also a seashell, avoids this problem, but is nicely tricky because it's similar to "limpkin".
jetpunk users found a new toy to play with (sudden death)