Does anyone know if there is a formal name for the cross between a wren and a titmouse? Does anyone know of a website listing names of hybrid birds?
I am not aware of any viable crosses between wrens and titmouses. A titmouse and a chickadee maybe, but wrens are not even in the same genus as titmouses. Have you seen one of these critters, or is this just the set-up to a sophomoric pun?
I am not actually aware of a viable cross, but it is a trivia question I have been searching for the answer to. Thanks for your answer; it lets me know that probably the only viable answer will be “hybrid”.
Um, no, Punky, what Dr. Fidelius just said was that the only viable, scientifically plausible answer to your question would be “not applicable” or “impossible”, not “hybrid”. Under current taxonomical rules, there can be no such thing as a cross between a wren and a titmouse.
Perhaps it’s meant to be a pun of some sort? What kind of trivia question is it? Now I’m curious.
Hmmm, titmice are in the family Paridae and wrens are in the family Troglodytidae (that’s a stab at the spelling for me) so echoing the good Doctor and DDG - it ain’t likely to happen. Does the trivia question refer to the Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)? They’re in yet another family, the Muscicapidae and are not the result of hybridization between titmice and wrens.
I’m all curious now.
Wow, you guys are amazing. Thank’s for all your replies. I’ll try “impossible” I could try “wrentit”, even though it is not correct.
The problem with this trivia is that the users submit the questions and if they are incorrect, sometimes it takes awhile for them to be noticed and corrected. The “impossible” may work, however, and then the question wouldn’t be incorrect.
The trivia is connected to an online community called Pyroto.
Thanks again for your help!
Hey.
Didn’t we used to have a sort-of sponsor last spring called Pyroto? Pyroto Mountain? The mods posted all kinds of “click the ad” threads.
Anybody remember?
Be specific, Punky. Now we are all curious.
Duck Duck Goose,
Sorry, I wasn’t meaning to be vague; I just didn’t want to post a blatant advertisement for Pyroto. But since you ask…
Pyroto is an online community which is multifaceted. It is based on the concept of a mountain which must be climbed by answering a whole variety of trivia-type questions to get to the top (512 levels at present). Users get to know each other by posting on the message boards and gain esteem points for doing so. Manna is like the currency of Pyroto and you can build your manna in several ways. One way to build manna is to have your esteem at sufficient levels to allow you to “power climb”, which gives you bonuses of manna for each correct answer.
They just made some changes to the community so I believe that now in order to get onto a mountain you land first on the “Plains” and have to answer 100 questions before you are permitted entry and can choose which mountain to “reside” on.
I believe there are a lot of 'teemers on Pyroto already - a whole group of them came and signed on. You can get more information by going to http://www.pyroto.com
If you ever decide to join up, I am known by the wizard name Punky on Pyroto as well. I reside on Imaz and would be happy to help you in any way I can.
Yeah, that is the same thing. I remember spending about 2 minutes on it way back when before realizing that there are only so many hours in the day, and I could either post at the SDMB or try to climb mountains.
So here I am.