The Bird is the Word #2 (For Kids) Quiz

The toco toucan is a large black bird with a bright orange bill that looks huge but is actually very light. It has a white throat and blue and orange skin around its eyes. A toco toucan can be about 22 to 26 inches (56-66 cm) long. It lives in parts of South America in tropical forests and forests. Toucans eat mostly fruit but also eat insects and small animals, and they use their long bill to reach and pull fruit from branches.

They are not strong long-distance flyers, so they hop and climb from tree to tree and make loud calls that carry through the forest. Toco toucans often sleep in tree holes and sometimes share a hole with other toucans.

The Eastern wild turkey is a very large bird with shiny brown feathers and a head that can turn red, white, and blue during breeding season. Males (toms) are larger than females and make a loud gobble while they fan their tail to show off to the hens.

They live across the eastern United States and parts of Canada in places that have both woods and open fields, where they eat acorns, seeds, berries, and many insects. Turkeys walk and scratch on the ground to find food, sleep in trees at night, and hens make a simple shallow nest on the ground to lay about ten to fifteen eggs.

The Northern Cardinal is a medium sized songbird with a pointy crest and a thick, cone shaped beak that is great for cracking seeds. Males are bright red and easy to spot, while females are brown with red flashes on their wings, tail, and crest. Cardinals are about 8-9 inches (20-23 cm) long and live year round across the eastern and central United States, with some populations in parts of Texas and Arizona. You can see them in yards, shrubs, and at the edges of woods. Cardinals eat seeds, fruit, and insects, sing in clear whistled phrases, and can be very protective of their territory, sometimes even attacking their own reflection in windows.

Common ravens are large black birds with thick beaks and shaggy throat feathers. They are usually bigger than crows and have a wedge shaped tail that helps you tell them apart. Ravens live across much of the Northern Hemisphere in many habitats, eat almost anything, and are very smart.

They can be difficult to tell from crows from a distance until you hear them and see they fly. They make deep croaking calls, often while soaring and doing fantastic acrobatic flips in the sky.

The great spotted kiwi (also called "roroa") is a large, flightless bird from New Zealand with grey brown, hair like feathers and a long bill whose nostrils are at the tip. It has tiny wings but cannot fly. Roroa are mostly active at night and use their strong sense of smell to find worms, insects, and berries; during the day they sleep in burrows or hollow logs.

They live mainly in forests and upland areas of New Zealand's South Island and lay very large eggs. Incubation is often shared by both parents. Conservation efforts are underway because introduced predators and habitat loss threaten them.

The snowy owl is a large white owl that lives on the Arctic tundra and sometimes moves south in winter to open fields and coasts. Males are often almost all white, while females and young birds have more dark spots. Snowy owls hunt small mammals (especially lemmings) and sometimes birds.

They are often active during the day, especially in summer, and when they come south you can sometimes see them perched on fence posts or low mounds.

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow is a small brown bird with a chestnut cap, a white cheek marked by a black spot, and a short, thick beak for cracking seeds. Males and females look very similar. These sparrows are about 5 inches (12.5-14 cm) long and live across much of Europe in farms, hedges, parks, and other places with trees and bushes.

They mostly eat seeds and also take insects, especially when feeding chicks. Tree sparrows build nests in holes or old nests, and both parents help feed the young. You can hear their loud chirps and see them hopping on the ground or in low bushes while they search for food.

The mallard is a very common duck. Males have a shiny green head and females are brown and speckled, but both show a bright blue patch on their wings. Mallards are medium sized ducks (about 46-69 cm long) and are easy to see at ponds, lakes, marshes, and city parks across North America and Eurasia.

They are dabblers, which means they tip forward in the water with their tails sticking up to reach plants, seeds, insects, and small animals. Some mallards stay near people all year, while others migrate south in winter.

The familiar loud quack is mostly made by females, and you can watch mallards swim, fly fast, and lead ducklings that follow their mother in a line.

The mourning dove is a slim, soft gray brown bird with a long, pointed tail and a small head. It makes a low, sad sounding coo that many people hear in towns and fields, which is how it got its name. It is about the size of an American robin (about 9-13 inches--or 23-33 cm--long). Mourning doves eat mostly seeds and forage on the ground, so you can see them walking or pecking in open yards, parks, farms, and at ground feeders.

They live across much of North America from southern Canada to central Mexico and like places with some trees or shrubs for nesting. Mourning doves fly fast and straight, can raise several broods in a year, and both parents help feed the chicks.

The emperor penguin is the largest penguin and looks black and white with pale yellow patches near its neck. Adults can be about 4 feet tall (about 122 cm) and are much heavier than most other penguins. They live only in Antarctica and breed in large colonies on the sea ice during the cold winter.

After the female lays the single egg, she gives it to the male, who incubates it on his feet under a warm fold of skin while she goes to the sea to feed. Emperor penguins are strong swimmers and deep divers that eat fish, squid, and krill (small shrimp-like animals), and they travel long distances across ice and ocean to find food and reach their breeding colonies.