In the spring of 2017 I finally “got up the nerve” and contacted Marta Gouger, the Times News editor, about an idea I had about writing a regular nature column. She asked me to submit a sample or two and in April 2017 my first column was published. I had no idea that I would be doing this nearly 5 years later but I’m enjoying sharing my love of the outdoors.

My goals were and are: To make people aware of the wonderful nature opportunities here in the paper’s coverage area, to present (hopefully) some new information, and to make the column an enjoyable “read.”

I hope I have accomplished those.

Now I get a chance to see what you remember from columns this past year by giving you a 20-question final exam.

Let’s see how you do.

All the answers will be at the end of the article so you can check your work. Let me know if by chance you get them all correct, I’ll even check Marta’s score too. There are some multiple choice, true/false, and 11 photos to identify.

I’ll include a bank of possible answers for the photo section with some “extra unused answers” included.

Good luck and let’s see if I still am a capable educator. ...

True/False

1. The nickname for a porcupine is the quill pig.

2. A timber rattlesnake with 12 rattles is 12 years old.

3. Robins and bluebirds lay an egg a day and begin incubating as soon as the first egg is laid.

4. Young birds learn nest building from the parent birds.

Multiple choice

5. Which one of these is not a blackbird species? A. starling. B. purple grackle. C. Baltimore oriole. D. red-winged blackbird.

6. Ed Knittle’s honeybee hives contain all of the following but: A. queen. B. workers. C. soldiers. D. drones.

7. Great blue herons nest in _____. A. condos. B. rookeries. C. chimneys. D. niches.

8. Which of these threaten our forests today? A. emerald ash borer. B. wooly adelgids. C. gypsy moths. D. all of these.

9. ______ pass by our local hawk watches each fall in the greatest numbers. A. Philadelphia Eagles. B. cooper’s hawks. C. broad-winged hawks. D. turkey vultures. E. red-tailed hawks.

See if you can identify the following photographs. These were a few of the topics presented in 2022. Note: The answer pool below contains the correct answers, with a few extras tossed in.

Answer pool

for photo section

Eastern screech owl, green heron, wood duck, gray tree frog, pickerel frog, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, river otter, blackburnian warbler, beaver, snowy owl, northern shoveler duck, timber rattlesnake, meadow vole, box turtle, northern copperhead, wood turtle, blue headed vireo, gray catbird.

Grading Scale

18 – 20 correct - Nature whiz.

16 – 17 correct - Not too shabby.

13 -15 correct - I’ll let you slip by.

12 and below - whimpy, whimpy, whimpy.

Answers

1. True 2. False 3. False 4. False 5. A 6. C 7. B 8. D 9. C.

10. River otter 11. Wood turtle 12. Meadow vole 13. Northern shoveler 14. Screech owl 15. Timber rattlesnake 16. Green heron 17. Blackburnian warbler 18. Blue-headed vireo 19. Gray tree frog 20. Snowy owl