Take this Birds of a Feather: Families Quiz! Easy Trivia | Animals

Answer: Emu

There are only four members of this bird family - the emu and three species of cassowary, the southern, northern and dwarf. They are flightless, known as ratites, along with ostriches, kiwis and rheas. The emu is found only in Australia, and only on the mainland although Tasmania did have a species which became extinct.

The southern cassowary is also seen in Australia but only in the north-eastern regions. All three species are native to the island of New Guinea, which is divided between Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea.

Answer: Hawaiian goose

The goose is just one member of the family, which also includes swans and ducks. There are more than 170 species of birds in the family and they can be found in nearly every area of the world, with the exception of Antarctica.

Common swans include the mute swan, whooper swan and trumpeter. The mallard may well be the most recognisable duck in the world, having adapted to live more or less anywhere where there is water. Other ducks include the eider and the shelduck - humans have made use of ducks for their feathers and meat for centuries. The most common geese are the Canada goose, which found Canada too small for it and spread out, and the greylag goose. The Hawaiian goose is also known as the nene.

Answer: Mistle thrush

The turdidae are the songbirds, which include blackbirds, American robins (the robins seen in Europe and Britain are not the same species), fieldfares and the bluebirds. The common name is the thrush family which also has the song thrush in the UK, although there are many other types of thrush around the world.

Although their colouring is different, blackbirds and thrushes have generally the same body shape and are happy to feed on the ground. They are not too fussy about where they live either, although the polar regions are avoided.

Answer: Rock dove

The family contains only pigeons and doves, with over three hundred different species found all over the world apart from the northernmost regions, Antarctica and arid deserts such as the Sahara. They fall into two main groups - the seed eaters and the fruit eaters, although some species also eat insects, worms and even reptiles.

Pigeons have become domesticated and have been trained to 'race'. These are released at a distance from their keeper and timed on how long it takes them to return. They are called 'homing pigeons', due to their instinct to come back to their familiar surroundings. Many homing pigeons were used as messengers during warfare, especially during World War I.

Answer: Kestrel

This is the family containing birds of prey such as the falcons and kestrels, species of which can be found everywhere in the world apart from Antarctica. The kestrel is regularly seen in Europe, Africa and Asia. Other falcons include the peregrine falcon, known for its speed when diving for prey, the caracaras and the merlin.

Answer: Green woodpecker

The Picidae family includes the woodpeckers and also the wrynecks. They are found in most parts of the world although, like most species, not in the polar regions or, perhaps more surprisingly, in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea or even Madagascar, with its huge variety of wildlife. They mostly live in woodland areas, where they search for insects on tree trunks and communicate with each other by drumming on trees, creating a distinctive sound which is unmistakable.

Among the woodpeckers are the greater and lesser spotted, the red-headed and Jamaican. As you can see, they are mostly named for either their appearance or location.

Answer: Screech owl

There are two families of owls with Tytonidae, which includes the barn owl, being the other. The Strigidae are called the 'true' owls and include the tawny owl, elf owl and little owl, as well as the screech owl given as an example. Their range is worldwide, with the snowy owl one of the few residents of the Arctic, although Antarctica doesn't have any owls.

At the other extreme is the Australian boobook, which is found in New Guinea, Timor and the Sunda Islands as well as in Australia.

Answer: Coal tit

The tits, chickadees and titmice are the birds belonging to the Paridae family. They are mostly northern hemisphere birds, found from North America, across Europe and into Asia, including India and the Philippines. They are also found in Africa, apart from the northern areas.

The European tits include the blue tit, great tit and marsh tit. In North America you will find the bridled titmouse and the tufted titmouse, along with many of the chickadees.

Answer: House martin

Belonging to this family are swallows and martins but not the equally acrobatic swifts, which are in the Apodidae family. These birds spend most of their time on the wing and have weak feet. Their primary diet is insects which they are adept at catching in flight. They can be found in most countries, although Africa is where many different species are found. Those that breed in the northern hemisphere migrate south in the autumn with British visitors heading for Africa and North American birds migrating to South America.

Hirundo is the Latin word for swallow, and the birds are called hirondelle in French.

Answer: Magpie

Corvids include crows, rooks, jackdaws and ravens, all of which have black feathers. More colourful members are the jays and magpies. Members of the family are found in most areas of the world, with the exception of the Polar regions and the southernmost parts of South America. The native New Zealand raven became extinct, but rooks have subsequently been introduced there.

Most members of this family do not migrate and they are among the most intelligent of the bird species.