Extreme Birds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ostrich

The ostrich (Struthio camelus) lives in the savannas and semi-deserts of Africa, in nomadic groups of 5-30 birds. On a diet of plants, insects, fruits, nuts, seeds, lizards, frogs, and anything else it can find, the ostrich can grow as large as 9 feet tall (2.7 m) and weigh 345 pounds (156 kg).

The biggest bird lays the biggest egg: 4.5 x 7 inches (11 x 18 cm) and 3 pounds (1400 g). That's about 12 times the volume of the average chicken egg! It also has the biggest eyeballs of any other bird: 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter! (Here's lookin' at you, kid!)

Answer: Bee hummingbird

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds, and the tiniest of all is the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), which measures a mere 3 inches (7.6 cm) long. Yet, hummingbirds have the largest brains, proportionate to their size, for their brains take up 4.2 percent of the birds' weight.

A human brain, to compare, is but two percent of our weight! They have a keen sense of hearing, though not as keen as an owl's, and of course they are the only bird that can hover and fly backward. It's a good thing they are so tiny, because a hummingbird must eat about every ten minutes and consume 2-3 times their body weight in insects and nectar each day, or starve.

Answer: Peregrine falcon

A grey-winged raptor, the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) can easily reach 200 mph (320 km/h) whilst diving for prey -- various sea birds, wading birds, pigeons, really almost any smallish bird. The record for this falcon is a whopping 242 mph (389 km/h)!

The large-eyed, white-naped, white-chested peregrine falcon lives on every continent except Antarctica. It lays its eggs on cliffs, and its chicks, called eyases, double their weight at six days old; by three weeks they will have grown tenfold. The female is larger than a male, which is called a tercel.

Answer: Needle-tailed swift

The aptly-named swifts (family Apodidae) are the most aerial of birds, and all have small, weak legs. The common swift (Apus apus) can cruise at 70 mph (112 km/h). The needle-tailed swift, also called the spine-tailed swift or the white-throated needletail, can cruise at 90-100 mph (145-160 km/h). Reportedly, this species (Hirundapus caudacutus) has reached 105 mph (170 km/h).

A fairly large swift, the needletail is about 8 inches (20 cm) long has a wingspan of over a foot (30 cm). In the summer it is found in Southern Siberia and Central Asia, but when it becomes winter there it migrates to the Indian subcontinent and as far as Australia (where it would be summer).

Answer: Ostrich

The ostrich cannot fly, but boy, can it run! It can easily zoom over ground at about 43 mph (70 km/h), and consequently flee most predators, including lions, hyenas, and crocodiles. The cheetah, another predator, is the fastest land animal, and can outrun its prey, however. So when running doesn't work, the ostrich resorts to kicking with powerful, two-toed legs.

The fluffy feathers on its mostly useless wings serve as camouflage, though its wings do have claws.

Answer: Gentoo penguin

Whereas most penguins cruise underwater at about 4-7 mph, the gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) can swim as fast as 22 mph (36 km/h). These fast swimmers are found on the Falkland Islands, South Shetland Island, and the Kerguelen Islands, not to mention in South Georgia, and a few on the Antarctic peninsula.

The gentoo has a distinctive white stripe on its head and a bright orange bill, and it has a distinctive waddle with a sweeping tail. Gentoo penguins eat krill, along with squid, squat lobster, and fish. Leopard seals, sharks, killer whales, and human beings prey on Gentoo penguins, which are somewhat threatened as a species.

Answer: Australian pelican

The Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) has an enormous pinkish bill that can grow as long as 20 inches (50 cm). This particular pelican, mostly white in color, not only inhabits its namesake but also New Guinea, Fiji, and Indonesia. The odd individual may wander over to New Zealand as well.

Although they prefer fish and shrimp, Australian pelicans have been known to eat reptiles and frogs, not to mention birds of other species -- babies, fledglings, and adults -- which they pin underwater and drown!

Answer: Flamingo

The flamingo uses its large, rough tongue to help filter mud and silt from their food, mostly plankton whose carotenoids give flamingoes their familiar reddish color. The bill and tongue together filter diatoms, crustaceans, and algae.

The most widespread flamingo species is the greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), which is found in Africa, southeastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and northwestern Asia. This Old World species is the largest flamingo, but the pink American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruper) is almost as big.

Answer: Great bustard

The great bustard (Otis tarda) of the Old World ranges in Iberia (Spain and Portugal), central Europe (esp. Hungary, Slovakia, and Russia) and across the temperate zones of Asia. A tiny fraction lives in temperate Africa. They prefer to live in in open, flat, treeless meadows and farmland, and they are quite endangered.

The ponderous great bustard also has the the second-greatest sexual dimorphism. The males can be as tall as 3'5" (105 cm) and as long as 8'10" (2.7 m) across the wings; meanwhile the females max out just under 3 feet (or at 85 cm) in height and at just under 6 feet (or at 180 cm) in wingspan.

Answer: Rüppell's griffon vulture

Rüppell's griffon vulture (Gyps rueppellii) will typically fly at 20,000 ft (6 km) above sea level. In 1973, one of these brawny vultures collided with an airplane off Cote d'Ivoire, Africa, at 37,000 feet (11,278 m). Rüppell's vulture can fly so high because it has special hemoglobin that is extra-efficient at absorbing oxygen even in the extremely low air pressure of the troposphere.

These large vultures ranges through Africa's Sahel region, which is the semi-arid region sandwiched between the Sahara and the Sudanian savanna. They are dying out, however, because human beings are poisoning livestock carcasses in hopes of combatting hyenas, but the vultures feed on the same carrion.

Answer: Macaw (parrot)

Macaws are known to live 80-100 years. Their wingspan is enormous -- typically 4 feet (1.2 meters) -- though not the widest (that belongs to the albatross). Other kinds of true parrots -- including cockatoos, African greys, yellow-naped Amazons, etc. -- can live variously up to 40-100 years.

To compare, the bald eagle can live abut 50 years in captivity, as can the swan. Flightless birds like the ostrich of Africa and the common rhea of South America might live to see 40. The poor little hummingbird lives out its days in about five years.

Answer: Wandering albatross

"The bird that made the breeze to blow" -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".

The wingspan of the wandering albatross can get as long as 11.5 ft
(3.5 meters). Quite monogamous, albatrosses breed slowly, only one chick every other year, or less frequently. They rarely flap their great wings as they use the wind in dynamic soaring and can cover about 500 miles (950 km) per day at 25 mph (40 km/h). The base of the wing "locks" into place so they don't get tired holding their wings out. Other common names for Diomedea exulans are snowy albatross and goonie.

Answer: Arctic tern

Each year, the arctic tern (Stera paradisea) flies 20-25,000 miles (32-40,000 km) from the Arctic tundra, where it breeds, to the edge of the Antarctic in the winter (that is, when it is winter in the North), and then back to the Arctic just as it becomes winter in the South and spring in the North. This distance is quite near the very circumference of the Earth! Just before this spectacular migration, a colony of terns will grow quiet, in what is called a 'dread'. Unsurprisingly, the bird spends most of its life in the air, and it always experiences long days, as it is in the Arctic in June and the Antarctic in December.

In the Arctic tundra (never in the Antarctic), the tern will lay one or two cream-colored, brown-speckled eggs at a time. Both parents care for the young.

Answer: Great horned owl

All of the owls have excellent hearing, but the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) of the Americas exceeds them all, matched perhaps only by the barn owl (Tyto alba). The nocturnal great horned owl has not only keen hearing but sharp eyesight to locate rodents and small birds, on whom it will silently pounce as it flies almost completely noiselessly.

The great horned owl is equally happy in the desert as the forest, in the grasslands as well as the mountains.

Answer: Three-wattled bellbird

The distinctive call of the three-wattled bellbird (Procnias tricarunculatus) can be heard half a mile (800 m) away! The bellbird does not sing by instinct, but rather must learn its song, which will vary from place to place.

As the common name suggests, three black wattles dangle from the base of the male's beak (the female lacks these), and the male's loud call sounds like a ringing bell. The male is brown with a white chest and throat while the female is olive with a yellow-streaked chest. This elusive bird is rarely seen but frequently heard.