Can You Recognize Your Birds? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sandgrouse

There are 16 species of sandgrouse, two from Asia and the other 14 from Africa. The pictured one is a Lichtenstein's sandgrouse, named after the German botanist and zoologist Martin Lichtenstein (1780-1857). A nomadic species, they can be seen across a wide range near the Equator, from Kenya through the Middle East and as far north as Afghanistan. Mostly nocturnal, Lichtenstein's sandgrouse are most often spotted when they appear to drink, either after dusk or shortly before dawn.

Answer: Tropicbird

There are three species in the tropicbird family: the red-billed, the red-tailed and the white-tailed. The pictured one is a white-tailed tropicbird, the smallest of the three related species. It can be found in the western Pacific and Indian oceans as well as on some Caribbean islands. When it strays as far north as Bermuda, it is known locally as a Bermuda longtail.
Although not a good swimmer, its diet consists of fish and squid caught by surface plunging. Its high-pitched scream is distinctive.

Answer: Dove/Pigeon

Also known as the palm dove, Senegal dove and, in India as the little brown dove, the laughing dove is pinkish-brown on the underside with a lilac-toned head and neck. The terms "dove" and "pigeon" are interchangeable, the former deriving from German and the latter from Latin. Although all part of the same family, dove tends to be used to describe the smaller species whilst pigeon is applied to the large family members.

Answer: Grebe

The grebe family consists of 22 species of diving birds, mostly freshwater although some do visit the sea when migrating. The pictured species is the great crested grebe, which breeds in areas around freshwater lakes throughout Europe and Asia. Small legs mean that it is unable to walk far, so it usually nests along the water's edge. Hunted almost to extinction in Britain in the 19th century, it is now once again a fairly common sight.
Unlikely as it may seem, the grebe's closest relative is not the apparently-similar duck or loon but the flamingo.

Answer: Nighthawk

The nine species of nighthawk native to the New World are closely related to the seventy species of nightjar indigenous to the Americas and the rest of the world. The pictured species is the common nighthawk, which looks something like a small owl at first glance. During the day it blends into the background so as to make it almost invisible, but come twilight it can be easily identified by both its erratic flightpath and its nasal vocalization even when in flight. The nighthawk lives primarily on insects that it catches in the wing, and its small bill masks a relatively huge mouth. On the other side of the coin, nighthawks are prey for owls, eagles and falcons when flying, and for skunks, raccoons, cats, foxes and snakes whilst nesting.

Answer: Hummingbird

Amongst the smallest of all birds, averaging just 3-5 inches in length, they get the name hummingbird not from any sound made with their mouth but from the humming sounds given off by the rapid beating of their wings. Found only in the New World, the vast majority of the more than 450 hummingbird species are native to South America.

The pictured bird is the red-throated hummingbird, the smallest of any bird that nests in the eastern U.S. or Canada. Most of the noises made by this bird and with its wings or tail feathers, even during courtship displays, but it does make squeaky chirps sometimes, usually to warn off other birds entering its territory.

Answer: Swift

Distinguishable by long, swept-back wings and a forked tail, members of the swift family appear similar to swallows, although they are not closely related and their flying action is quite different. In fact, the nearest relative to the swift family is that of the hummingbirds. Swifts use saliva to glue their nests to vertical surfaces, and this forms the basis for bird's nest soup.
The pictured bird is a great dusky swift, a native of South American, particularly Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay. Its favorite habitat is heavily degraded former forest regions, particularly in the temperate regions or the sub-tropical lowlands.

Answer: Bustard

There are more than 25 species of bustard, amongst them the world's two heaviest flying birds, the great bustard and the Kori bustard (pictured). Both of these species can weight as much as 44 pounds and grow to be almost five feet tall. Bustards generally prefer to walk or run rather than fly, and they spend most of their day pecking a combination of seeds and invertebrates as they walk along. The pictured bird is a Kori bustard, most commonly seen in open grassy areas of southern Africa, particularly in Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Generally silent birds, their alarm call can carry for considerable distances.

As ground-dwelling birds, the Kori bustard is prey to a wide range of Africa's carnivores including lions, leopards, hyenas, jackals and rock pythons.

Answer: Crane

Although the 15 species encompassed within the crane family can be found worldwide, most are either threatened or critically endangered. Similar to the unrelated heron family in appearance, cranes fly with their necks outstretched whereas herons do not.
Also known as the Stanley crane and the paradise crane, the blue crane (pictured) is South Africa's national bird. Most commonly seen on dry grassy hills, valleys and plains, the blue crane roosts in the higher grasslands and migrates to lower elevations for the winter.

Answer: Cormorant

There are more than forty species of cormorant (or shag). Medium to large birds, all are fish-eaters although their diet also includes eels and water snakes. They fish by diving and then propelling themselves underwater with their feet. They can dive to a depth of 150 feet. The pictured bird is the great cormorant. Found from North America to India and Australasia, it is also known as the great black cormorant, the black cormorant, the large cormorant and the black shag in various parts of the world.

It can be seen not only at sea and on estuaries but also on freshwater lakes and rivers. Once nearly hunted to extinction, it is still a protected species in the UK. Compare that to Norway, where the cormorant is a traditional game bird -- more than 10,000 are eaten annually.