Entertaining Birds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ginger

With more than a passing resemblance to 'The Great Escape', the 1963 film, 'Chicken Run' told the story of a group of hens trying to escape from their poultry farm, where they are destined to be turned into pies. Rocky becomes their saviour, teaching them to fly, although the actual escape is carried out by a flying machine, rather like the Colditz glider. Other actors who provided their voices include Miranda Richardson and Imelda Staunton.

Your picture clue shows a root of ginger, so the culinary experts among you should have had no problem.

Answer: Sparrow

Piaf was known as 'the little sparrow of Paris', with many sources confirming that the word 'piaf' is a slang name for a sparrow, or small bird in France. Piaf was raised in a brothel, and began her singing career in 1935. Among her best known songs are 'La Vie en Rose', 'Milord' and 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien'. She died, aged only forty-seven, from liver cancer.

A literal picture clue of a sparrow, known as a 'spadger' in the area where I grew up in England. Edith Spadger? Maybe not.

Answer: The Wrong Trousers

A rather evil penguin, Feathers McGraw appeared in the Wallace and Gromit story, having taken up the offer of a room to let in the house where the two main characters live. Feathers turns out to be an escaped criminal, disguised by wearing a red rubber glove on his head. The film was created by Nick Park, who also brought us 'Chicken Run'. Feathers McGraw has also appeared in the video game 'Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo', from 2003.

The cheese board relates to Wallace's love for cheese - 'Cracking cheese, Gromit?' - and, yes, I did find a picture which included Wensleydale.

Answer: Guinness

The toucan was a long standing character in Guinness adverts, although you have to be quite old to remember it since he was dropped in 1982 following a change of advertising agency. The first appearance was in 1935, so he had a good run for his, or our, money. Among the slogans was: 'Guinness is good for you; think what toucan do'.

The photo shows an Irish harp which should have been enough help even if you didn't know that a similar harp appears on all Guinness products.

Answer: The Lord of the Rings

Gwaihir, in particular, appears several times in the novels, rescuing Gandalf from Isengard, where he was confined at the top of a tower. He also carried Gandalf to rescue Frodo and Sam, while it was his brother, Landroval, who took the two hobbits to safety. According to Tolkien, Gwaihir means Windlord while Landroval means Widewing.

The picture? Well, you can ring a bell.

Answer: Mary Poppins

'Feed the Birds' was just one of the songs from the 1964 film starring Julie Andrews as the magical nanny to the Banks children. Some others are 'Let's Go Fly a Kite' and 'A Spoonful of Sugar'. The film also starred Dick Van Dyke as Bert, whose Cockney accent wasn't entirely convincing coming from the American actor.

Mary and her umbrella descend from the sky as the character first appears, so what better than an umbrella picture to help you?

Answer: Bear

The first game in what became a series was published in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 game console. Banjo, a bear, and Kazooie, a large, red bird of the fictitious species breegull, have to outwit a witch named Gruntilda.

The picture clue shows the paw of a real brown bear - Banjo is meant to be a honey bear.

Answer: Kestrel

Written in sonnet form, 'The Windhover' was originally written by Hopkins in 1877 although it did not appear in print until 1918. The windhover name comes from the ability of the kestrel to hover in the sky while searching for its prey on the ground. The poem describes the kestrel making use of the wind currents before swooping to capture its hapless meal.

No tricks with the photo clue this time - just a photo of a kestrel doing what the poem describes.

Answer: Fleetwood Mac

Surprisingly, perhaps, 'Albatross' was the only UK number one hit for Fleetwood Mac, arriving early in their career. 'Man of the World', one of the best and saddest songs ever, in my opinion, and 'Oh Well' both reached number two in the UK in 1969. Of course, these date from their early years when Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer were in the band. The later incarnation, including Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, had great success in the mid 1970s, particularly with their 1977 album 'Rumours'.

You have two albatrosses for the price of the one in the hit record in the photo.

Answer: Norwegian Wood

All the titles are by The Beatles, but these lyrics come from 'Norwegian Wood' which was one of the songs on the 'Rubber Soul' album of 1965. The words 'this bird has flown' are often shown, in brackets, as part of the title. The song is notable for George Harrison's sitar playing.

A clue, as if you needed it, of a pile of wood. It's probably not from Norway, though.