Fun Trivia » Animals » Wild Birds

The white-backed vulture has a high survival rate from egg to fledgling, but by the mid to late 2010s the adult population was declining sharply due to loss of habitat, use of poisons to control predators such as hyenas and lions (the carcasses are eaten by the vultures), and even the livestock veterinary drug diclofenac.
Difficulty: Easy.

 

European song-thrush, Grey-Headed bulbul, Takahe

When feeding from the water, a pelican scoops up its prey (and anything else around it) into its throat pouch, draining the water before swallowing the meal. A pelican will generally toss a fish head first into its gullet so it slides down more easily. Smaller birds have been known to distract a feeding pelican and snatch the catch from its beak.

(Question by Lones78) Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

kingfisher, albatross, cormorant

The song thrush is a tool user. It bashes snails against a stone in order to break their shells. It is omnivorous, also eating worms and berries. The song thrush is found across most of Europe and parts of east Asia. It is highly recognizable due to its speckled chest and beautiful song. Difficulty: Hard.

 

chestnuts, eggs, worms

The common blackbird, Turdus merula, is found across Europe, as well as some areas of North Africa, South Asia and Australia. Although the male blackbird is black, the female is dark brown. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Crow, Tit, Finch

The zebra finch is found over much of Australia and is the most common finch on the continent. Its natural habitat is grassland and forest areas that are close to water. The bird has been introduced in other places and can be found now in Portugal, Indonesia, Brazil, and the United States. In the wild the zebra finch can live up to five years but has been known to live 10-12 years in captivity. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Tiger finch, Rainbow finch, Skunk finch

Common blackbirds are native to Europe and Asia and are therefore often known as the Eurasian blackbird, particularly in North America. They were introduced to Australia in the 1850s, where they became unpopular interlopers thanks to their habit of damaging garden plants, fruit, and vegetable patches. The genus Turdus includes over 60 species of true thrush - many of which are known for their singing ability; although the most famous, the nightingale, has since been reclassified as a type of flycatcher. Common blackbirds are capable of an array of tuneful warbling sounds in addition to (somewhat less melodious) high-pitched alarm calls and aggressive warning noises aimed at potential invaders of their territory.

These birds are often monogamous with pairs staying together for multiple breeding seasons and staunchly defending their nesting sites and territory together. However, outside of the breeding season the males and females tend to live in separate areas of the territory. Female and juvenile blackbirds can be easily differentiated from the adult males because they aren't actually black birds - they have predominantly brown plumage, with the juveniles tending to be slightly speckled.

The lark bunting is an American member of the sparrow family, the groove-billed ani is a tropical cuckoo and the Eurasian jackdaw is a type of crow. Difficulty: Average.

 

Lark bunting, Groove-billed ani, Eurasian jackdaw

Pigeons' retina cones contain colorful oil droplets, which act as filters, giving them enhanced color vision. They use a combination of photosensors and light filters that may record as many as five different spectral bands (pentachromacy).

A triple system of color perception (human eyes have three types of cone cells) gives us the ability to detect only three wavelengths.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

robins, sparrows, owls

The little shrike thrush, the pitohui and blue-capped ifrit contain powerful toxins obtained from their diet. No bird actually injects venom but through their feathers and skin they are dangerous if held or eaten.
The cassowary is probably the most dangerous bird in the world, although flightless it has razor sharp claws on its feet and has been known to kill humans and dogs.
While fighting in New Guinea during WWII the American and Australian soldiers were told to stay well away from cassowaries if they ever came across them.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Australia, Brazil, Madagascar

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the red kite population throughout Europe had been severely reduced owing partly to poisoning by pesticides used in agriculture, and also by illegal hunting and trapping.
However, in the United Kingdom numbers increased significantly after the turn of the 21st century, owing mainly to the controlled release of breeding pairs of both Swedish and Spanish origin, at various sites throughout the country. By July, 2011, the RSPB stated that numbers had increased to such an extent that it was no longer feasible to conduct annual surveys to monitor the success of the project.

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted a risky experiment during a thunderstorm into the properties of lightning, by flying a kite with a metal key and wires attached. He determined that lightning was in fact a form of static electricity, and following a number of further experiments, invented the lightning rod and conductor. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Common buzzard, Merlin, Golden eagle

This beautiful bird can be found in tropical and sub-tropical rainforests of South America. It is named for its habit of nesting in holes on cliffs. The cock-of-the-rock dines on fruit, insects, and small reptiles. It can grow to about 13 inches long. The national bird of Peru is the Andean cock-of-the-rock. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Purple Grackle, Bird of Paradise, Stone Curlew

The Charadriidae include the plovers as well as the lapwings. They can be found worldwide with about 10 more or less commonly found in North America. Their diet consists mostly of marine animals and insects. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Laridae, Mimidae, Anatidae

The other three options listed here are all birds from the Americas, not Australia. Crimson chats (Ephthianura albifrons) are found mainly in flocks in inland and Western Australia. Apart from their red plumage, they have a white throat, black plumage around the eyes and a grayish-coloured back. They ground feed for insects and feed on flowers for nectar. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Vermilion flycatcher, Painted bunting, Red-billed scythebill

The gos has several legends associated with it. Firstly, Atilla the Hun wore an image of a Northern goshawk on his helmet. In Portuguese, goshawk is "açor". When explorers found a group of islands, they thought they saw a large number of goshawks, and named the islands the Azores. The birds they saw were actually common buzzards (Buteo buteo). Difficulty: Hard.

 

Sparrowhawk, Sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk

The Harris hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) gets its Latin name due to the fact that the juvenile looks remarkably like a common buzzard (Buteo buteo), and the adult has one white stripe at the base of its tail. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Red-tailed hawk, Northern goshawk, Sharp-shinned hawk

The outer feathers of a bird are smooth and stiff and give the bird its shape. Difficulty: Hard.

 

down, outer, ontour

The male kestrel has blue-gray wings. The female kestrel has reddish-brown wings with black barring. Kestrels have large heads and notched beaks, with streamlined bodies. Both genders have reddish brown backs barred with black. Their crowns are a blue-gray with varied amounts of reddish brown. Their faces and throats are white with a black vertical stripe below their dark eyes, with another black stripe behind the cheek. Their beaks are blue-black and their legs and feet are yellow. The tail of the male is reddish brown with one wide and black band, which is sub-terminal. His tail also has a white tip. The female tail is reddish brown with black bars. The underside of the female is heavily streaked with brown, while the male is white to buff orange with dark spotting or streaking. They are slightly larger than robins with the female being about 10 to 15% larger than the male.

Difficulty: Hard.

 

reddish-brown, buff-orange, creamy-rust

During the sighting, the parakeet was actually caught on video. However, the film has been lost and experts who have seen it agree that it showed a parrot of some kind, though it is impossible to tell which species. Difficulty: Hard.

 

The Santee, The Great, The Everglades

The great auk (Alca impennis) was a very common bird that roamed the North Atlantic over a thousand years ago. Bluish-black with a white underbelly, the auk was hunted relentlessly for its meat, feathers, and value as collector items. In 1830, the island of Geirfuglasker was destroyed by a combined volcanic eruption and earthquake. The majority of auk were killed and the remaining few settled on Eldey.

The Auckland Island merganser (Mergus australis) was a freshwater species similar to a duck and was restricted to the Auckland Islands, located off the southern tip of New Zealand. Discovered in 1840, it eventually became extinct due mainly to predation by pigs, rats, cats and dogs. The last known specimens were shot and collected on January 9, 1902 by the Earl of Ranfurly and are currently on display in the Natural History Museum in London, England. In 1966, a very similar bird was captured and photographed near a dump site on Adams Island, one of the Aucklands group.

The Atitlan grebe (Podilymbus gigas) was a small flightless shorebird native to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, South America and was first described in 1929 by American ornithologist Ludlow Griscom. A combination of earthquake in 1976, political unrest in 1982, human encroachment, and predation reduced the population to 30 specimens by 1983. By 1986, despite the heroic efforts by (one) Anne LaBastille to save it, the Atitlan grebe was no more. In general, grebes are small, freshwater diving birds that occupy lakes, streams, and rivers.

The Amsterdam Island duck (Anas marecula) once roamed Amsterdam Island, French Southern Territories and was mentioned by a certain Mr. Barrow in his notes on a visit to nearby St. Paul Island in 1793. Both islands are found in the southern Indian Ocean, far from other land masses. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Amsterdam Island duck, Auckland Island merganser, Atitlan grebe

All these families belong to the order Struthioniformes, although there is speculation whether this is accurate or not. All these birds are unable to fly. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Ostriches, Cassowaries, Rheas

Its name can be explained by its habit to get active at dusk. Somehow the English name for this bird is more appealing than the Dutch: kwak. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Little Bittern, Bittern, Little Egret

The anhinga is a long-necked bird related to the cormorants. It often swims with only its head and neck above water; this gives it a snake-like appearance. The anhinga uses its neck and beak as a harpoon for catching fish. Difficulty: Hard.

 

fulmar, skua, puffin

Ornithosis/Psittacosis is a disease transmissable from birds to humans or vice versa. Difficulty: Hard.

 

necrotizing fasciitis, schistosomiasis, atherosclerosis

This bird also has a lifespan of up to 34 years. Difficulty: Hard.

 

red to black, black to orange, red to yellow

The blue jay belongs to the crow family, which is scientifically known as Corvidae. This family includes other intelligent birds such as ravens, magpies, and rooks. Blue jays are known for their striking blue coloration and their loud, distinctive calls. They are also known to be intelligent birds, capable of problem-solving and using tools to obtain food. In fact, studies have shown that blue jays are able to remember specific locations of food caches and retrieve them months later. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Woodpecker, Cardinal, Duck

 

Robin, Bald Eagle, Cardinal

The family of Albatrosses have the longest wingspan of any birds. They spend almost their entire lives at sea, rarely coming within sight of land. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Arctic Tern, Blue-footed Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird

The Pyrrhuloxia is close, but not right. He is mostly brown with reddish streaks on his breast, wings, and crest. He is often mistaken for the female Cardinal. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Vermilion Flycatcher, Pyrrhuloxia, Bullock's Oriole

There are two types of osprey, the western osprey (which can be found in all continents except Antarctica) and the eastern osprey (native to Oceania and Asia). It is a seabird which lives predominantly on fish and subsequently makes its habitat near bodies of water. Its oily plumage enables it to dive into water and catch fish without getting waterlogged. Ancient legends claimed that ospreys mesmerised fish so much that the fish would yield to them and flip over in the water, and that parents made their chicks fly up to the sun as a test. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

Albatross, Steller's sea eagle, Goshawk

The robin (Erithacus rubecula) is so named for the Latin 'ruber' meaning red. Although its distinctive chest plumage is more orange than red, it was called red simply because the word orange wasn't invented until the 16th century. They are called passerine because of the arrangement of their toes to facilitate perching--three toes pointing forwards and one backwards.

Early British Mail Coach Guards in 1784 wore scarlet coats with blue lapels, similar to the military 'red coats', in the thought the colour would deter robbers. To further differentiate them from the soldiers, they were nick-named robin redbreast.

(Team Red's leith90 contributed this question.) Difficulty: Average.

 

Wren, Black-billed Cuckoo, Flycatcher

This unusual bird (a member of the rail family) is about the size of a domestic hen with blue and green plumage and a heavy red bill.

It once ranged freely throughout the North and South Islands of New Zealand, but was deemed to be extinct for about 50 years, until a small group of survivors was found in the Murchison Mountains area of the Fiordland in New Zealand's south. They are now protected within a nature reserve. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

Australia, Antarctica, Chile

The puffin is a type of auk that is found in large colonies on cliffsides along the seashore. It is a seabird, with fish being the main part of its diet. The birds have a bright orange beak with the colors enhanced during the mating season. Unlike other seabirds, the puffin is able to hold several fish in its beak, sometimes over ten, allowing it to feed better by carrying food over distances. This ability is attributed to a unique hinging mechanism of the beak which allows the upper and lower tips to meet at a number of angles.

(Question by zorba_scank) Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

peacock, finch, sparrow

The carrion crow belongs to the Corvidae family, members of which are among the most intelligent birds in the world. Various types of crow have been observed making and using tools (generally to obtain food rather than for use in complicated DIY projects), a skill which few birds or other animals have ever managed to master. In urban environments crows also make good use of human activity, for example by dropping nuts onto roads in order to get passing cars to break the shells open.

The carrion crow's black plumage has a glossy greenish or purple tint. They are native to western Europe and eastern Asia, two populations that probably became separated during the last ice age. They are also particularly close relatives of the hooded crow, a bird that can be found inhabiting the area in between (eastern Europe and western Asia). Although they have an extremely wide omnivorous diet including insects and hunted prey, a lot of their food tends to be carrion - decaying meat of already dead creatures.

The turkey vulture has brownish-black feathers and is a scavenger, but is not known for specifically feasting on turkeys; and the barnacle goose has large patches of black plumage and definitely prefers grass to barnacles. The saffron-cowled blackbird is named after the decorative flashes of yellow feathers in its plumage rather than for quaffing saffron - one of the most expensive spices available. Difficulty: Average.

 

Saffron-cowled blackbird, Turkey vulture, Barnacle goose

Reptilian characteristics of birds' eyes are evident in the pecten (a comb-like structure of blood vessels) within the globe of the eye, the ring of bones embedded in the sclera (corneal membrane) and the area surrounding the irises. Difficulty: Hard.

The black swan is a water bird and breeds mainly in the southwest of Australia. It has a red bill and although a black-feathered bird, it has white flight feathers.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

England, France, India

The Eurasian hobby favours open countryside as its habitat, whether cultivated land or wetlands. It feeds mainly on large insects such as dragonflies, bats and small birds which are caught whilst in flight. The hobby will often takeover the old nests of other birds, laying three or four eggs. Both the male and female hobby then share in their incubation. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Peregrine falcon, Osprey, Booted eagle

The brown, mottled feathers of the potoo makes the bird look like part of a tree, useful camouflage while it sleeps during the day. The potoo is a night hunter, preferring to snack on beetles, moths, and other insects. An interesting feature of this bird is that it has slits in its eyelids which enables it to see with eyes closed. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Gentoo, Mantoo, Rengoo

The albatross is an interesting creature and possesses a mating programme that, in some ways, is similar to that of humans. The albatross is the longest living of the great seabirds, surviving to an average age of fifty years. Because of this longevity the act of breeding is not an immediate priority but once they do breed they will invest a lot of time in looking after their young. Sexual maturity may take as long as ten years in some albatross species but these early years are not wasted as the young birds are encouraged to study the mating rituals of their elders.

The courtship of the albatross will include a series of intricate dances and vocalisations. Initially the birds will perform to a wide array of partners though they will gradually reduce this field as they search for the one partner they will spend their lives with. The chosen pair will then use their singing and vocalisations to create their own unique language. Difficulty: Average.

 

Cormorant, Gannet, Skua

The killdeer is so named because of the distinctive "kill-deeah" call it makes. Killdeer have been observed feigning an injury in order to lure potential predators away from the nest. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Semipalmated plover, Mountain plover, Snowy plover

Although it rarely flies, the secretary bird is not flightless. It uses its long legs and sharp talons to pound snakes, hitting them accurately in the head and usually killing them with the first strike. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Crested eagle, Ostrich, Lammergeier

Bird droppings are coloured by certain foods which are not digested sufficiently to degrade. Purple pigeon droppings are particularly common in the UK from the berries they eat. Difficulty: Average.

 

Purple, Brown, None