BIRDS
A THING OF BEAUTY
PLAYING THE DOZENS
MOVIES BY CHARACTERS
SCIENCE & NATURE
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
400
Part of this wading family associated with delivering life, the marabou went the other way & is known as "the undertaker bird"
a stork
400
February's birth month flowers are the primrose & this one with a purplish name, sometimes its color
violet
400
In Ye Olde England, certain tradespeople adding a bit of extra dough to their loaf batches may have been the origin of this term
baker's dozen
400
Animated in 2010 & live action in 2025:
Hiccup,
Stoick &
Tuffnut
How to Train Your Dragon
400
Better wash your hands: There are as many as a billion of these in a teaspoon of soil, including the decomposing & nitrogen-fixing kind
bacteria
400
If your Boulogne boulangerie is closed on July 14, must be for this
Bastille Day
800
One of these falcons named Frightful clocked a speedy dive of 242 mph
a peregrine falcon
800
This Italian is noted for his use of rhythmic line & delicate color in paintings like "The Birth of Venus"
Botticelli
800
It's the 5-letter word for a dozen dozens
gross
800
1974:
Sheriff Bart,
the Waco Kid
Blazing Saddles
800
Thanks to Edward Jenner's discovery of a vaccine for this in 1796, the death rate from it dropped considerably
smallpox
800
In 2024 on its Unity Day, January 22, its president spoke of citizens from Kharkiv & Lviv fighting for those in Donbas
Ukraine
1200
A ground-dwelling rail (that's a bird) was recently seen on Floreana Island in this archipelago for the first time since an 1835 visit
the Galápagos Islands
1200
In Act I of "Porgy & Bess", Clara sings this, a lullaby that melds opera & jazz & conveys hope & warm, lazy days
"Summertime"
1200
A psychiatrist in this 1967 war film calls the title group a "twisted, antisocial bunch of psychopathic deformities"
The Dirty Dozen
1200
Set in the Mississippi Delta:
Sammie,
Remmick &
the Smokestack twins
Sinners
1200
They're the 2 chemical elements whose symbols begin with
potassium & krypton
1200
March 30 is Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day on this pair of alliterative Caribbean islands
Trinidad & Tobago
1600
There are several species of this colorful Central American flyer; the resplendent one is Guatemala's national bird
the quetzal
1600
It's the Japanese name for the cherry tree, celebrated for its blossoms
sakura
1600
Hercules labor-ed at 12 tasks to atone for killing his family, an atrocity committed after this stepmother drove him insane
Hera
1600
A musical from 2017:
Jenny Lind,
Chang & Eng
The Greatest Showman
1600
Skills of this mammal in the genus Herpestes: killing cobras; cracking open eggs by throwing them at rocks
a mongoose
1600
March 17 is St. Patrick's Day in Ireland; across the channel in Scotland, November 30 is this
St. Andrew's Day
2000
A raised area of land is in the name of this crane that's thought to be the oldest living species of bird
sandhill crane
2000
Katharine Lee Bates' line about "purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain" was inspired by a trip to the top of this mountain
Pikes Peak
2000
From Latin for "12", this numeral system aka base 12 is not to be confused with a similar-sounding system used in libraries
duodecimal
2000
Set in South L.A.:
Doughboy &
Furious Styles
Boyz n the Hood
2000
Most bony fishes possess this 2-word gas-filled sac that helps prevent floating upwards or sinking
a swim bladder
2000
Maurice Bishop Day on this Caribbean island honors a prime minister who was killed days before a 1983 U.S. invasion
Grenada