Trivia question for Aug-16-2011

Carter found the facts about these birds fascinating so he is including them in his trivia.  This is the world’s most abundant wild bird species, with an estimated adult breeding population of 1.5 billion. Some estimates of the overall population have been as large as 10 billion.

These birds live and breed in huge flocks which can take up to 5 hours to fly past. They live mostly in steppe and savanna regions, but do not avoid human settlements. While foraging for food they may fly large distances each day without tiring. Their life expectancy is two to three years. Being such a considerable part of the savanna biomass, their flocks and colonies attract huge numbers and diverse types of predators and scavengers. Birds known to live extensively off of these birds include herons, storks, raptors, owls, hornbills, rollers, kingfishers, shrikes and corvids. Additionally, snakes, lizards and several types of mammals, especially rodents and small carnivores, are regular predators.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this bird is and also how many breeding nests have been found in a single tree?  Also, these guys flock in huge numbers.  Tell us what the nickname is that these guys have because of their tendency to fly in large flocks?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Memsete’ from South Africa for being the first with the correct answer.  The birds we featured are Red-Billed Quelea.  The Red-billed Quelea is the world’s most abundant wild bird species, with an estimated adult breeding population of 1.5 billion.[1] Some estimates of the overall population have been as large as 10 billion.

One tree occupied by breeding queleas had 6,000 nests.   Because of their tendency to flock in such high numbers, these birds have earned the nickname ‘avian locust’.  Here is more on these abundant birds: Red-Billed Quelea

Thanks for playing along 😉