Outdoor trivia: How much do you know?

To wrap up 2013, I thought I would continue the year-end outdoor trivia quiz I began last year. To read a column you missed, visit http://goexploreit.blogspot.com.

1. Which is not an invasive species?

a. Eurasian collared-dove

b. European starling

c. English Sparrow

d. Black-capped Chickadee

2. Snowshoe hares are coprophagous, meaning they eat their feces to extract additional nutrients. True or False?

3. Moss differs from trees and flowers because of:

a. Lack of water and nutrient carrying system

b. Presence of spores

c. Lack of root system

d. All of the above

4. Which of the following is not an adaptation used by nocturnal animals?

a. Big ears

b. Big feet

c. Big eyes

5. How many eyes do grasshoppers and honeybees have?

a. Two

b. Three

c. Four

d. Five

6. Which tree is a deciduous conifer?

a. Ponderosa Pine

b. Rocky Mountain Maple

c. Alpine Larch

7. Which bird is North America’s only aquatic songbird?

a. Belted kingfisher

b. American dipper

c. Marsh wren

8. Benchmarks can be in the form of:

a. Metal discs

b. Chiseled squares

c. Fire lookouts

d. All of the above

9. Turkey vultures have an extremely strong sense of:

a. Taste

b. Hearing

c. Smell

d. Sight

10. Lightning can strike:

a. Only underneath the cloud

b. Within five miles of the cloud

c. Five to 10 miles from the cloud

d. More than 10 miles away from the cloud

11. Which is not a species of wasp?

a. Bald-faced hornet

b. Yellow jacket

c. Paper wasp

d. Honey bee

12. Which mammal is the slowest reproducer for its size?

a. Mouse

b. Bat

c. Pika

13. Which bird eats more ants than any other bird species in North America?

a. Bluebirds

b. Robins

c. Northern flicker

14. Killdeer draw predators away from their nest by:

a. Nesting high in a tree

b. Nesting in a burrow

c. Using distraction displays

d. Being silent

15. Female painted turtles are larger than male painted turtles. True or False?

16. Crab spiders can catch insects two to three times their size because of their:

a. Camouflage

b. Toxic venom

c. Sharp vision

d. All of the above

17. Which is not a type of honeybee in a hive?

a. King

b. Queen

c. Worker bee

d. Drone

18. Marsh wrens prey on red-winged blackbird eggs. True of False?

19. Spiders can produce up to how many types of silk?

a. Three

b. Five

c. Seven

20. Which butterfly is one of the few butterflies to overwinter as an adult?

a. Tiger swallowtail

b. Mourning cloak butterfly

c. Cabbage white

21. When do most owls nest?

a. February/March

b. April/May

c. June/July

22. The diet of a raccoon is:

a. Herbivorous

b. Carnivorous

c. Omnivorous

Answers: Photo: B. Golden-mantled ground squirrels resemble chipmunks but they don’t have stripes on their cheeks like most chipmunks.

1. d. 2. True. 3. d. Moss lacks xylem and phloem, has spores instead of seeds and has rhizoids instead of roots. 4. b. 5. d. Grasshoppers and honeybees have five eyes--two large compound eyes and three simple eyes. 6. c. Alpine larch lose their needles in the fall after they turn golden yellow.

7. b. The American dipper is specially adapted to forage for insects, fish and tadpoles under water in mountain streams.

8. d. Benchmarks can also be church spires, water towers or any point which can be readily picked out of the landscape. 9. c. A turkey vulture can smell a rotting mouse from 200 feet up in the air.

10. d. While most lightning is beneath the cumulonimbus cloud, positive lightning can strike more than 10 miles away from the cloud. 11. d. 12. b. Bats usually produce one offspring a year after they reach maturity at two or three years of age. 13. c. Flickers use their long tongue covered with sticky saliva to collect ants.

14. c. Killdeer draw predators away from their nest by bluffing an injury and emitting a loud piercing call.

15. True. Females can reach nine inches and males can reach seven inches in length. 16. d. Crab spiders patiently wait on flowers until an insect lands and once caught, their toxic venom paralyzes the insect.

17. a. The only males in the hive are drones and their sole purpose is to mate with the queen. 18. True. Since marsh wrens and red-winged blackbirds live in the same habitat, they prey on each other’s eggs.

19. c. Spiders use each type of silk for a specific purpose, such as making egg cocoons, releasing draglines, wrapping prey or creating different parts of a web.

20. b. The mourning cloak butterfly is one of the first butterflies flying around in spring, even if there is snow on the ground.

21. a. Most owls nest in February or March and that is when their calls can be heard the most at dusk and at night. 22. c. Raccoons will eat almost anything they can get their paws on from bird eggs to fish to garbage.