Something in the Air Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bird

The sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) is a bird that is a member of the parrot family. It is white wth a bright yellow crest of feathers on the top of its head, and usually grows from 44 to 55 centimetres (17.5 to 21.5 inches) long from head to the tip of their tail.

They are very intelligent and can communicate with gestures and expressions. For example, they can move their crest up and down to communicate excitement, or to try to scare other animals or humans that come too close because they seem larger with their head feathers standing up.

These birds are native in the wild in Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia. Their intelligence has also made them popular as pets around the world. Sulphur-crested cockatoos usually live to about 20-50 years of age in the wild, but they have been known to live to be 70 years of age or older if they are kept as pets.

Answer: Bird

The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is also known as the fish hawk, the river hawk, or the sea hawk. Given its nicknames, you can tell that it loves to eat fish. It catches fish by diving into the water, catching the fish in its talons (feet), and plucking the fish upwards back into the air so it can fly away with its catch.

The osprey is a large brown/grey bird, usually weighing 0.9 to 2.1 kilograms (2.0 to 4.6 pounds) and grows to 50-66 centimetres (20-26 inches) in length from head to tail. They have a 127-180 centimetres (50-71 inches) wingspan, or measure from side to side when its wings are outstretched.

This lets them gain enough strength for their dives into, and climbs from, the water. They also have very oily feathers that keep them from getting water-logged when they dive into the water. Ospreys can be found on all continents of the world except Antarctica.

Answer: Bird

The indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) is a beautiful bird that can be found in North America, Central America, South America, and Europe. It is a small bird that usually grows to about 11.5-13 centimetres (4.5-5.1 inches) from its head to its tail. The male indigo bunting is bright blue during the breeding season to help attract a mate.

It turns brown after breeding season. The female is brown year-round. The indigo bunting has a varied diet. In the summer, they usually eat insects, but in the winter, they eat seeds.

They live in woodlands and on farmlands.

Answer: Bird

The cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) can usually be found in North and Central America, and occasionally in South America. It gets its common name from two places. The "cedar" comes from its diet. They eat sweet fruit and berries, including the berries on the eastern red cedar tree.

The "waxwing" comes from their appearance. Some of their wing feathers have small spots of red on the tips. These red spots look like the red wax that used to be used to seal letters, so the bird became the waxwing.

These brownish-yellow birds usually grow to 15 to 18 centimetres (6 to 7 inches) from head to tail. They also have a short crest of feathers on their heads. Cedar waxwings are very social, and are usually seen in flocks year round.

Answer: Butterfly

The red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a beautiful butterfly that can be found in areas around the world that have warm weather. Its main colour is black, but it has a bright red band on each of its front and back wings. There are also white dots on its front wings and black dots in the red bands on its back wings. The red admiral is a medium-sized butterfly, growing to a wingspan of about 5 centimetres (2 inches) across from side to side when its wings are open. The main thing that red admirals eat is a plant called stinging nettle. Although it has been known to eat other plants, it will dine on stinging nettle if it is available.

Like some other butterflies, the red admiral does migrate to warmer areas in the south during colder months where it lays eggs and caterpillars hatch and grow into adults before they migrate north once again. The red admiral tends to fly high into the sky during migration because they can save energy by flying on high-speed winds in the upper atmosphere.

Answer: Butterfly

The painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) is found everywhere on Earth except in Antarctica and South America. The top of the front wing on the painted lady has orange and black patches, with white spots in the black area, and small black splotches in the orange area. The top rear wings of the painted lady are mainly orange with some black spots. The underside of the painted lady is made up of shades of black, grey, brown, pale orange, and white. This butterfly is medium-sized, with a wingspan of about 5.1 to 7.3 centimetres (2 to 2.75 inches) across when its wings are open.

The favourite food of the painted lady caterpillar is a family of plants that includes asters, daisies, and sunflowers. Adults feed on flower nectar and a sweet liquid that is made by aphids, another small insect that eats the sap of plants. The painted lady will migrate to warmer areas in winter months for better food. They will also migrate after some weather conditions for better food sources. This has been seen after rains in desert areas that cause lots of plants to grow that will, in turn, feed these butterflies that migrate to the area.

Answer: Butterfly

The butterfly that is called the mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) in North America is called the Camberwell beauty in Great Britain. They can usually be found in the northern hemisphere because they seem to like cooler temperatures with open spaces in forests, and sometimes mountains. It is called a brush-footed butterfly because of its hairy front legs.

The mourning cloak is a large butterfly that does not look like any other butterfly. Its wingspan can measure up to 10 centimetres (4 inches) across when its wings are open. The top side of both wings is dark maroon, a brownish-red colour. Along the edges of each wing is a ragged thin line of yellow. Along the edge of the yellow line are small, bright blue dots. The wings are grey underneath with the same yellow edges.

Mourning cloaks are one of the longest-lived butterflies. They can live for up to one year. They do not migrate to warmer places in the winter. Instead, they hibernate by hiding in tree cavities and on the ground under a layer of forest debris like leaves and bark. They end their hibernation very early, sometimes appearing before the snow melts.

Answer: Butterfly

The great spangled fritillary is a butterfly that can be found in North America. It is a medium-sized butterfly, with a wingspan that measures 6.2 to 8.8 centimetres (2.4 to 3.5 inches) across when the wings are spread out. The great spangled fritillary can be found from coast-to-coast in the northern half of the US and in southern Canada. They live in meadows and on forest edges.

The great spangled fritillary is orangish-brown on the top of its front wings. There are black dashes along the edges of these wings, and some black dots spread along the dashes. The rear wings have black dashes along the edge with black crescents along those dashes. Underneath, the front wing is yellowish-orange with markings similar to the topside. The back wing is reddish brown with some silver spots.

Answer: Moth

The pale brindled beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) is a moth that is limited to Europe and Western Asia. The females of this type of moth do not have wings. The male's wings are 3.5 to 4 centimetres (1.4 to 1.6 inches) from tip to tip when laying flat. These wings are grey, sometimes with white scales.

The males fly between January and April each year as they seek out females in order to mate. The female lays only one group of eggs each year.

Answer: Moth

The lead belle (Scotopteryx mucronata) is a species of moth that lives in Europe, Turkey, Ukraine, and Western Siberia. They are greyish-brown with thin reddish-brown stripes across the wings. The wings measure 3 to 3.8 centimetres (1.2 to 1.5 inches) across when laying flat. Adults fly from May to June each year in order to find members of the opposite sex for mating. One group of eggs is laid each year.

The caterpillars feed on gorse, furze, or whin plants, and some other flowering plants in their range.

This moth spends the winter in the larval, or caterpillar, stage of its development.

Answer: Moth

The snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) lives in Canada from Quebec and to the west, and as far north as the Northwest Territories. It also lives in most of the United States. Its wingspan is about 3.2-5.1 centimetres (1.25-2 inches) across from side to side when the wings are open. The wings are very interesting on this moth. They do not have any scales like most other moths and butterflies so their wings appear clear. Their bodies have yellow and black sections, so they look like bumble bees.

Most moths fly at night, but the snowberry clearwing flies mostly during the day. Caterpillars of this moth feed on dogbane, honeysuckles, viburnum, snowberry, and a few other plants. This moth has some regional nicknames such as the "hummingbird moth" or "flying lobster". It is thought that these nicknames developed because some once thought that this moth looked like those other unrelated animals.

Answer: Moth

The brown silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata) is a moth that can be found in Europe and Asia. Its wingspan measures 3.1 to 3.7 centimetres (1.2 to 1.5 inches) across its wings when they are laying flat. They are light brown in colour with some interesting lines across their wings.

The lines are whitish, but shaded a darker colour along their edge to make them appear raised. The brown silver-line flies from the end of April through June to find a mate and lay its eggs. After the caterpillar grows, it will form a pupa, or hard covering.

The pupa is formed in the soil by July where it stays to overwinter before emerging as a flying moth in the spring.