Krillion Recorded answers
1,467 recorded answers
How to approach it
Work outward from water types rather than from memory of a bird list. Take each kind of water in turn — open ocean, estuary, slow river, highland lake, marsh, flooded field, rocky shore — and ask which birds you can actually name that depend on it. Write down every candidate, even the ones you think are too obscure, because breadth is what this puzzle rewards. Then check each name for a real species behind it: a stable common name, a described range, a documented link to water. Drop anything that is only a family label or a bird you half-remember. Before submitting, keep the strangest plausible name and discard the generic one; the scoring favours precision over familiarity.
Get a hint
Start from the habitat instead of the family tree: fresh water, salt water, marsh, shoreline and riverbank each host their own set of birds, and any of them is a legitimate entry.
A little more
Within that habitat, sort candidates by how they use it — diving for fish, wading in shallows, nesting in reeds, probing mud, or simply roosting on rocks and posts at the water's edge.
One step further
Aim for a precise species name rather than a broad label, and lean toward something specialised, a bird whose whole life is spent on one kind of water body, over the first one that comes to mind.
Reveal answers 1,467
- Chestnut-banded PloverDeep Cut85points
- Chestnut-capped BlackbirdDeep Cut85points
- Chestnut-headed FlufftailDeep Cut85points
- Chestnut-naped ForktailDeep Cut85points
- Chestnut-winged CinclodesDeep Cut85points
- Chilean flamingoDeep Cut85points
- Chilean Seaside CinclodesDeep Cut85points
- Chilean skuaDeep Cut85points
- Chiloe wigeonDeep Cut85points
- Chinese crested ternDeep Cut85points
- Chinese egretDeep Cut85points
- Chinese gooseDeep Cut85points
- Chinese pond heronDeep Cut85points
- Chinstrap penguinDeep Cut85points
- Chirping CisticolaDeep Cut85points
- Christmas FrigatebirdDeep Cut85points
- Christmas ShearwaterDeep Cut85points
- Chubut Steamer DuckDeep Cut85points
- CinclodesDeep Cut85points
- Cinnamon bitternDeep Cut85points
- Cinnamon tealDeep Cut85points
- Citrine wagtailDeep Cut85points
- Clamorous reed warblerDeep Cut85points
- Clapper railDeep Cut85points
- Clark's grebeDeep Cut85points
- Cocoi heronDeep Cut85points
- Cocos BoobyDeep Cut85points
- Collared kingfisherDeep Cut85points
- Collared PetrelDeep Cut85points
- Collared ploverDeep Cut85points
- Collared pratincoleDeep Cut85points
- Colombian CrakeDeep Cut85points
- Comb duckDeep Cut85points
- Comb-crested jacanaDeep Cut85points
- Common black hawkDeep Cut85points
- Common craneDeep Cut85points
- Common diving petrelDeep Cut85points
- Common eiderDeep Cut85points
- Common gallinuleDeep Cut85points
- Common goldeneyeDeep Cut85points
- Common gullDeep Cut85points
- Common merganserDeep Cut85points
- Common moorhenDeep Cut85points
- Common MurreDeep Cut85points
- Common pochardDeep Cut85points
- Common sandpiperDeep Cut85points
- Common scoterDeep Cut85points
- Common ShelduckDeep Cut85points
- Common snipeDeep Cut85points
- Common ternDeep Cut85points
Why these answers count
The top tier here is enormous, which tells you the reveal accepted almost anything with a genuine aquatic connection: 1451 of the 1466 recorded answers reached at least 60 points, and 1376 of them sat at 85. What separated the very top was not correctness but rarity. Only one entry, Sungrebe, reached 100 points, and it is the kind of answer most players never think of — a rare pick rather than a familiar shoreline bird. The 85-point band is packed with precise, well-documented species from every continent and every water type, from Abbott's Booby and Abdim's stork to African darter, African finfoot and African fish eagle: correct, specific, but shared by enough players to be capped below the maximum. The 74 answers at 60 points were still accepted, presumably broader or more commonly offered names. The lesson: specificity earns the base score, obscurity earns the premium.