Encounters of the Feathered Kind ( W Europe) Quiz

Answer: Monk parakeet

The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), also known as the quaker parrot, has proved to be a very adaptable species, now ranging through most of Western Europe (especially Spain, Italy and Belgium, with a variable and almost controlled population in the UK), the Caribbean and some major cities of the United States of America. The main methods proposed for controlling the population of this parakeet include destroying their nests (by taking them to pieces, burning them or even watering them before a freezing night) and mass-sterilization.

Although also being an invasive species, the rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) doesn't match with the description given.

The other two species, the white-cheeked turaco (Tauraco leucotis) and the brown-necked parrot (Poicephalus robustus), aren't reported from countries outside their native regions apart from eventual escapes.

Answer: Canada goose

Canada geese (Branta canadensis), first introduced in Britain during the 17th century from North America, has now become a very common bird not only in the British Isles, but also in the North-Western regions of the continent. It is arguable whether it is an invasive species or merely a naturalised one.

The smew (Mergellus albellus) and the common eider (Somateria mollissima) are two native European species.

The cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii), extremely similar to tha Canada goose, differing mainly in size, is also native to North America but has not been introduced to other parts of the world.

Answer: Egyptian goose

The Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca), despite being a colourful and extraordinary sighting, poses a great risk to wild populations of ducks, geese and other aquatic birds due to their currently vast population, thus occupying the ecological niches of native species. It is particularly well-known its aggressiveness towards other wildfowl. This goose is native to Central and Southern Africa.

The ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) has its nearest native populations in SE Europe on one side and in the Canary Islands on the other, with very small, non-established, feral populations in the UK, Belgium and other NW European countries, which means it is not even near being an invasive species.

Both the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis) and the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) are native species to Europe.

Answer: Ruddy duck

The stifftails (genus Oxyura) used to have only one member in Europe, the white-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala), which breeds in Central to Southern Spain, a population which grew from 22 individuals in 1977 to around 4500 in 2000. The ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) was introduced in the 1930s and 1940s in England, breeding for the first time in the wild in the 1950s. By 2016 it boasted a population of around 6000 individuals in the UK alone, and has begun spreading through Europe and Northern Africa, competing and hybridising with the white-headed duck, with a probable result being the total annihilation of the latter.

Mandarin ducks (Aix galericulata) are also a widespread, alien species, more or less invasive, but it doesn't pose a genetic risk to any native species in Europe.

The Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope) is a native species.

Answer: Black-headed weaver

The stunning black-headed weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus), along with other weavers and bishops (family Ploceidae), are present in many SW European wetlands, where they thrive among the reeds, weaving their orb-shaped nests, hence their name. They are native to Central and Southern Africa (other species also inhabit Asia), and arrived in Europe through escapes from captivity.

The yellow-mantled widowbird (Euplectes macroura) is an exclusively African bird, and the yellow-breasted flycatcher (Tolmomyias flaviventris) is only found in South America.

The marsh tit (Poecile palustris) is a native bird to Europe.

Answer: Western capercaillie

We can find all of these species in Western Europe, although only in Britain are all four species present.

Of them all, only the western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is the native species. It can only be found in Western France, Switzerland (where the Central-Eastern European population of this species begins), Northern Spain (extremely endangered although has never become regionally extinct) and Scotland (where it became extinct in the 18th century but was reintroduced a century after although is now very endangered).

The three pheasants are more or less established, being the common (Phasianus colchicus) extremely widespread, so much so that one would think it's a native species, and the Green (Phasianus versicolor) the least spread, in Europe only in the UK. All of them were introduced from Eastern Asia.

Answer: Lesser flamingo

Although in the past some ringed individuals, escapees from private collections, had been seen in different parts of Europe, increasing numbers of wild lesser flamingoes (Phoeniconaias minor) are being seen - mainly in west and southwest Europe, and they have even nested in Southern Spain at the Fuentedepiedra Lagoon.

This last wetland is home to the second largest European colony of greater flamingoes (Phoenicopterus roseus), which are native to our region, as is the purple heron (Ardea purpurea).

The Puna flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi) is a small flamingo native to the Andes, in South America.

Answer: Red avadavat, common waxbill and yellow-crowned bishop

The red avadavat (Amandava amandava), native to SE Asia, the common waxbill (Estrilda astrild) and the yellow-crowned bishop (Euplectes afer), this last two species originating from Central and Southern Africa, are three quite established species in SW Europe, mainly Spain and Portugal, with small numbers further North and East.

The other species mentioned are all native to our region.

Answer: Little owl

The only species not currently present in the UK (or W Europe) is the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus).

The rest are quite common both in the UK and continental W Europe. Nevertheless, whereas tawny (Strix aluco) and barn owls (Tyto alba) have long been native to the British Isles, the little owl (Athene noctua) was not introduced in England until the beginning of the 20th century and has since been quite successful there.

Answer: Eurasian collared dove

Now an extremely common urban bird in most of Europe, the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is believed to have originally been restricted to S Asia. By the beginnings of the 20th century it started an astounding expansion from Turkey north westwards, arriving in the Netherlands not before the 1940s, to Britain between the 1950s and the 1960s and to Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula by the late 1960s.

The African collared dove (Streptopelia roseogrisea), although being an alien species present in small numbers in some Spanish localities, has accomplished neither a westwards expansion (if anything, it would be eastwards) nor has it been a long one.

Both the wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) and the stock dove (Columba oenas) are native species to our region.