Duck, Duck, Goose! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Swan goose

The swan goose is a large and relatively long-necked goose, but this is about the limit of its resemblance to members of the swan family. It has predominantly greyish-brown feathers, inhabits grassy plains, coniferous forests and mountain valleys, and generally does very little swimming. The fact it has the word 'goose' in its name is not as much of a giveaway as you might think, as, for example, the solan goose is actually a member of the gannet family.

Goosander is another name for the common merganser, a large fish-eating duck. Mallards are one of the most common ducks in the world and buffleheads are American sea ducks (named after the odd shape of their head).

The children's game 'duck, duck, goose' involves a group sitting around in a circle while one player (the 'picker') walks round, tapping each person on the head in turn and declaring them to be a 'duck'. Eventually the 'picker' calls someone a 'goose' instead of a 'duck'. The 'goose' then has to jump up and run round to try and catch the 'picker' and if they fail to do so they take over as the new 'picker'. There are several other variations which all follow the same basic idea.

Answer: Bar-headed

The bar-headed goose is predominantly pale grey and white but is easily identified by the black bars that form a striped pattern on the back of its neck. In summer, it is generally found around the mountain lakes of Russia and Tibet but migrates south (over the Himalayas) to spend the winter in south Asia. This migration explains the need for the birds to be able to fly at high altitudes.

The tufted duck, redhead and pink-headed ducks are all species of diving duck. The male tufted duck has a distinctive 'tuft' of feathers on the back of its head and male redheads have (unsurprisingly) red head feathers. The appearance of the pink-headed duck in our game of 'duck, duck, duck, goose' is somewhat miraculous as the species was believed to be extinct in the 1950s - maybe this particular specimen has mastered the art of time travel?

Answer: Barnacle

Branta leucopsis, or barnacle goose, gets its name from an old superstition that they grew in underwater shells. This myth may have developed because barnacle goslings were hardly ever seen due to the geese using Arctic breeding grounds. In Scotland this myth was apparently used as an excuse for eating barnacle geese during Lent - as people classified them as shellfish!

Muscovy (or the Grand Province of Moscow) was a Russian principality from 1283 to 1547, when it was renamed the 'Tsardom of Russia' on Ivan the Terrible's coronation as 'Tsar of All the Russias'. Despite sharing a name with the city of Moscow, the Muscovy duck is actually native to Central and South America. The canvasback was named for the canvas like colour of its back, although in other languages it is often known as the white-backed duck. The garganey is a migratory dabbling duck.

Answer: Canada

Canada, the second-largest country in the world by total area, also has the longest coastline thanks to its complicated northern coast, with its many islands and inlets. Although measuring the exact length of a country's coastline is almost impossible due to the 'coastline paradox' - the idea that the more precise the measurement, the longer the coastline will become - there is general agreement that Canada has the longest one. A commonly quoted figure for Canada's coastline is approximately 200,000km (produced by the World Factbook).

The full line up of birds consists of the Canada goose, Pacific black duck, African black duck and American black duck. The three black ducks are all dabbling ducks of similar size to a mallard, but are considered to be separate species despite the similarity of names. The Canada goose is one of the most common birds seen in North America. Although normally a migratory species, some flocks have taken up residence in built-up areas, gaining themselves a bad reputation as an urban pest.

Answer: Snow goose

The blue goose is also known as the snow goose. Both names are derived from the birds' plumage, as they are polymorphic - meaning that the species has more than one form or colour variety. The 'white-morph' snow goose has predominantly white feathers, while the 'blue-morph' variety has a white head but is otherwise generally a bluish-grey colour.

The Orinoco, Egyptian and maned goose are examples of birds using the title of 'goose' when in fact they are members of the duck family. The Orinoco goose is from South America and is often found perching in trees, despite apparently not being that keen on flying. The Egyptian goose is found in the Nile valley and is a member of the shelduck family, and the maned goose is from Australia and is more commonly known as the Australian wood duck (since it is a duck after all)!

Answer: Emperor

The emperor goose has a predominantly grey body with a striking white head and neck. It is found mainly in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, so never comes into contact with its namesake, the emperor penguin, which is only found in Antarctica. Other animals with the name 'emperor' include the emperor tamarin (a monkey), the emperor butterfly and the emperor scorpion.

The silver teal is a South American dabbling duck, the velvet scoter is a sea duck and the golden cascade is an American breed of domestic duck, generally kept for its egg-laying ability. (It is also probably feeling a bit out of place amongst all the wild ducks and geese involved in the game).

Answer: Cackling

The cackling goose is, unsurprisingly, named after the noise it makes. It was originally considered to be a subspecies of the Canada goose, but has since been reclassified as a distinct species. The cackling goose is of similar appearance to the Canada goose, but is generally smaller.

Ferruginous means either 'containing iron', or 'rust-coloured', so the second definition was most likely the one meant when naming the ferruginous duck. The falcated duck is named after its sickle-shaped tertial flight feathers (falcated meaning 'sickle-shaped'). The spectacled duck (or bronze-winged duck) is named for the distinctive patch of coloured feathers on its wings, known as a speculum; no spectacled ducks have ever been observed wearing vision correction devices.

Answer: Nene

The nene (or Hawaiian goose) was chosen as the state bird of Hawaii in 1957, two years before Hawaii actually became a US state on August 21, 1959. Previously Hawaii had been a US territory since 1898. The nene, a native of the Hawaiian islands, remains a rare species of goose although numbers have actually recovered since the early 1950s when the species came close to extinction.

The gadwall is a widespread duck, usually found in wetland areas of North America, Europe and Asia. The hardhead, also known as the white-eyed duck, is an Australian diving duck. Judging by its name it probably wouldn't mind being involved in a game of 'duck, duck, goose', although the pintail (another duck with a widespread geographic distribution) would probably be better suited to a game of 'pin the tail on the...pintail'.

Answer: Pink-footed

Although the pink-footed goose spends its winter in north-western Europe, its main breeding grounds are even further north in Iceland, Greenland and Svalbard (a Norwegian island group in the Arctic Ocean). In 1951, one of its largest breeding grounds was discovered in Iceland by Sir Peter Scott, a noted ornithologist whose father was the ill-fated Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott

The ring-necked duck is native to North America, and its beak actually has a more obvious 'ring' than its neck. The mottled duck is also an American species but looks a bit like a female mallard. The marbled duck (or marbled teal) is not a statue, but a duck that was originally native to the Mediterranean area and has since been classified as a vulnerable species. It looks like we were lucky to obtain one to masquerade as a goose for our little game...

Answer: Black brant

The black brant (also known as the Pacific brant goose or Pacific brent goose) is one subspecies of brant (or brent) goose, and has generally dark feathers with white patches on its wings, lower body and neck. The clue that this bird was the sought-after goose is actually in its name, as it belongs to the Branta genus of geese which generally includes black geese. The other two genera are Anser (grey geese), and Chen (white geese).

Wigeons, goldeneyes and shovelers are all species of duck and shouldn't be mistaken for pigeons, Hollywood movies or digging equipment.

This game came close to being a version of 'duck, duck, goose' involving tapping real ducks and geese on the head. However, that had to be abandoned due to the sheer impracticality of it - imagine the number of pecked fingers (let alone the animal rights concerns) - so I hope making do with 'duck, duck, duck, goose' hasn't been too disappointing.