Four And Twenty Blackbirds

Theories abound as to why 5,000 blackbirds suddenly fell out of the sky on New Years Eve to die on the streets and roofs of the small town of Beebe in the US state of Arkansas. The fact that it was minutes to midnight lent an apocalyptic tone to the thoughts of those townspeople with Armageddon spotting tendencies. Others with a more scientific bent have suggested that a collision between the flock and end of year fireworks may have panicked and disorientated the birds. Meanwhile ornithologists working for the splendidly named Arkansas Game & Fish Commission have pointed out that as blackbirds have poor vision they may simply have started crashing into things after flying unusually low in an effort to avoid the fireworks. Still others believe that a thunderstorm or unusually heavy hailstones may have upset the birds. Avian post mortems, or necropsies, may yet reveal in the coming days that the cause of the strange incident may be down to some form of toxins the birds were exposed to. Such a possibility may go some way to explain why on Monday three hundred miles away in Louisiana a separate flock of some 500 blackbirds fell dead out of the sky. Such strange goings on have prompted the Highly Questionable? team's imagination to take flight by setting a bird theme for today's quiz.

Birds Quiz

1 The collective noun for a group of crows is 'a murder', what is the equivalent term for a group of owls?

2 An albatross is the name given by golfers to what score? 

3 Big Bird, the character from US children's TV show 'Sesame Street', is what colour?

4 Which American jazz musician had Bird as a nickname?

5 Who had their nose pecked off by a blackbird in the nursery rhyme 'Four & Twenty Blackbirds'?

The answers to our bird themed quiz will be published along with tomorrow's quiz questions.

Answers To California Quiz
The answers to the questions posed in yesterday's California themed quiz were:-

1 The Mamas and The Papas.

2 The Beach Boys.

3 Clint Eastwood.

4 Sacramento.

5 Mojave Desert.