Fly Away Little Bird

Fly Away Little Bird
September 1, 2023 - February 29, 2024



Hummingbird 5-10 Tasks
Goldcrest 11- 20
Cape penduline tit 21 or more
 
Use the tasks as often as you need.

26/21
 
TASKS
 
*1. Bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) – 5.5cm -6.1cm.
They weigh just 1.95 grams, about the same as a cashew nut making them the smallest warm-blooded vertebrate. These perfectly petite birds can only be found in Cuba and feed on flower nectar. They may be mistaken for bees buzzing around their favorite blooms, hence the name.
🪶Read a book with a bee on the cover (Show cover) or 
read a book where a character is called petite or 
read a book where the author's initials can be found in HUMMINGBIRD.
Coulda Been a Cowboy - Brenda Novak (HQN - Mar 2014) - Sept 10
 
*2. Esmeraldas Woodstar (Chaetocercus berlepschi) – 6.4cm
Just slightly larger than the bee Hummingbird is the Esmeraldas woodstar, also a species of hummingbird. This whimsically named bird can be found only on the coast of west Ecuador, and is vanishingly rare, with an estimated population size of between 1000 and 2,700 mature individuals. This number is currently decreasing due to habitat loss.
🪶 Read a book set by the coast or 
set in Ecuador or 
where the first letter of the location of the book can be found in WOODSTAR.
Vengeful Vows - Yvonne Lindsay (HD #2658 - Apr 2019) (Washington) - Sept 8
 
*3. Calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) – 7cm/2g
The calliope hummingbird is the smallest native bird of the United States and Canada. At 7cm from beak to tail tip, it is about the length of a Bic lighter. Like most hummingbirds, its diet consists of a mixture of nectar and small insects. They are named after the Greek muse Calliope, known for her ecstatically beautiful voice. The hummingbird call doesn't quite live up to this perhaps, being more of a high-pitched zing noise.
🪶 Read a book set in Canada or 
read a book with a character who has a beautiful voice or 
read a book where the author's initials can be found in BIC LIGHTER.
Texas Scandal - Barb Han (HI #2170 - Oct 2023) - Sept 27
 
*4. Costa’s Hummingbird (Calypte costae) – 7.6 cm/3.05g
The final hummingbird on our list is perhaps the most striking, the males of this species having a bright purple cap and throat, making them look like a particularly angry plum. This vibrant plumage is used to striking effect in their courtship displays, when they carefully angle themselves so that the sun catches it, dazzling nearby females. They can be found in the southwestern United States and in Mexico.
🪶Read a book set in the United States or Mexico, or 
read a book with a purple cover (Show cover) or 
where the author's initials can be found in COURTSHIP.
The Lyon Who Loved Me - Tracy Sumner (Dragonblade - Sept 2023) - Sept 12
 
5. Pale-billed flowerpecker (Dicaeum erythrorhynchos) – 8 cm/4g
Less vibrant than the hummingbirds but almost as tiny is the pale-billed flowerpecker, an olive-green bird found on the Indian subcontinent. It has a mutually beneficial relationship with the mistletoe species Dendrophthoe falcata. In return for food – the mistletoe berries – this bird both pollinates the plant, carrying pollen from flower to flower, and aids in seed dispersal by voiding seeds intact after digestion.
🪶Read a book with flowers on the cover (Show cover) or 
where two people have a beneficial relationship. (Your interpretation) or 
where the first letter of each title word can be found in DENDROPHTHOE FALCATA.
Hunted at Christmas - Dana R. Lynn (LIS #1061 - Oct 2023) - Sept 14
 
6. Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) – 8cm/6g
The aptly named wee-bill is a nondescript grey-and-yellow bird with a particularly stubby beak. It is Australia’s smallest bird. The weebill is primarily insectivorous, feeding on beetles and flies, but sometimes also seeds. At just 6 grams, it is about the weight of a pencil.
🪶Read a book set in Australia or 
where the MC flies somewhere or 
where the location starts with a letter in WEEBILL
Night of Lyons - Chasity Bowlin et al. (Dragonblade Pub - Aug 2023) (London) - Sept 2
 
7. Cape penduline tit (Anthoscopus minutus) – 8cm/8g
Found in southern Africa, this petite passerine is known for the nests they build from soft materials such as spider webs, sheep’s wool and plant fibers. These nests are created as hanging globular bags, dangling, and swaying from tree branches. They also have more than one entrance, an open ‘false entrance’ that leads to an empty chamber, craftily constructed to baffle would-be egg thieves, and a smaller, real entrance that shuts as soon as a tit has entered or left.
🪶Read a book where a character is a thief or 
where the word nest can be found in the text (Give a partial sentence and page/loc #) or 
set in Africa.
The Prince's Safari Temptation - Nina Singh (HR #4872 - Oct 2023) - Nov 15
 
8. Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) – 9cm/5.7g
This is the UK’s smallest bird, known very grandly as 'king of the birds' in European folklore (hence the scientific name regulus, meaning king). This is likely due to the bright orange/yellow plumage it sports on the crown of its head. Although it weighs less than a postcard, females of this species can lay up to 12 eggs in a clutch, which is about one and a half times their body weight.
🪶 Read a book that has either an orange or yellow cover (Show cover) or 
with a king in the story or 
where someone is pregnant.
Marked for Revenge - Delores Fossen (HI #2169 - Oct 2023) - Sept 22
 
9. Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla) – 9.3cm/5.5g
A much rarer bird is the Firecrest. In addition to the yellow crown, they also have a black eyestripe and a white supercilium or eyebrow stripe. They are also more vibrantly colored overall than the goldcrest. They have a similarly regal name, Regulus ignicapilla meaning (roughly) fire-capped little king. They can be seen in the UK, but are also found throughout much of Europe and parts of northwestern Africa.
🪶Read a book where the word fire can be found in the text(Give a partial sentence and page/loc #) or
Chef Sugarlips - Tawna Fenske (Capstone - May 2018) (like it's on fire - pg 38)- Sept 8 
set in Europe or 
where the author's initials can be found in FIRECREST.
Her Best Friend's Wedding - Christine Rimmer (HSE #3020 - Dec 2023) - Nov 20
 
10. Spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus) – 9.5 cm/6g
This colorful little bird, Australia’s smallest after the Weebill, is also known as the headache bird. This is due to its characteristic repetitive call that may aggravate listeners with its relentlessness in the breeding season. It can be found high up in eucalyptus canopies, foraging amongst the foliage for small insects, its favorite being those in the jumping plant lice family (psyllids).
🪶Read a book where a character has a headache or 
with a colorful cover (Show cover) or 
where the first letter of each title word can be found in SPOTTED PARDALOTE.

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