Fly Like an Eagle Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wedge-tailed eagle, or wedgie

The tail of a wedgie has two distinct pieces, as if a piece has been cut out of its centre. The wedge is visible in the photo, and is immediately apparent when you see one in flight overhead, soaring on thermals and hunting for prey. As the largest of Australia's raptors, it could be given some of the other suggested nicknames, but isn't. Wedge-tailed eagles are found all over Australia, including Tasmania, and also in the southern parts of New Guinea.

Their preferred habitat is open or lightly timbered country such as is found in the southern and eastern states of Australia.

Answer: Golden eagle

The genus Aquila derives from the Latin word for eagles, "Aquila". The golden eagle gets its species name from the Greek word for golden, "chrysaetos". Golden eagles prey on small mammals such as rabbits and marmots, but will make do with smaller animals such as mice, when necessary, and have been known to include birds, mostly ground-feeding species, in their diet. Golden eagles usually mate for life, and build large nests in cliffs or trees which they use for several years.

There are up to four eggs laid in a clutch, of which one or two may hatch and survive long enough to fledge at the age of three months, and achieve full independence at about six months of age.

Answer: Vultur harpyja

The Greek harpies were said to have the heads of women and the bodies of eagles. Depending on when in the course of mythological development you read about them, they were either very beautiful, seductively so, or very ugly. The name comes from a Greek word which means "to snatch", and they are best known from the tale of Jason and the Argonauts as the enforcers of Zeus' punishment of Phineus - they always arrived in time to snatch away his food before he could eat it.

The harpy eagle, now classed as Harpia harpyja, is found from Mexico south to Argentina, but is now extremely rare in the northern parts of this range. It is the national bird of Panama, and appears on that country's coat of arms. Their prey is mostly tree-dwelling mammals (sloths and monkeys, for example), although they have been known to attack ground-based species such as iguanas and snakes when needs must.

Answer: In Africa, south of the Sahara

Wahlberg's eagle is a medium-sized raptor with brown plumage that ranges from the dark brown in the image used for this question to a much paler shade. The underside of the wings is a grey color, and they have a distinctive crest that helps to distinguish them from such closely-related species as the steppe eagle and the lesser spotted eagle.

When in flight, they carry their wings at right angles to their body; since their wingspread is roughly the same as their body length, this gives them a squared cross-shaped profile.

Answer: India

Endemic species are only found in a single geographic location, and for once, this species found in only one country isn't from Madagascar, which is often the answer for trivia questions about endemic species. These birds are found on South Andaman Island, part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India (even though the islands are on the far side of the Bay of Bengal, and lie closer to Burma than to India).

The IUCN Red List considers them to be Near Threatened, because they are thought to be quite common in their range, but that range is small and coming under increasing environmental pressure from human activity. They occupy the rainforests in the interior of the island, and leave the coastal forests for the crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela), of which S. elgini was once considered a subspecies. As their names suggest, both of these species are specialists in preying on snakes.

Answer: Monkey-eating eagle

The species name was chosen to describe the bird's diet, combining the Greek words for a monkey (pithecus) and eating (phagus), because early taxonomists were told that it fed exclusively on monkeys. Later research has shown their diet to be more varied; although monkeys are a common prey, they also enjoy other small mammals, as well as reptiles and birds. Since there were other species whose common name was monkey-eating eagle, it was decided in 1978 that they should be known as the Philippine eagle.

The species, endemic to the Philippines, is considered critically endangered, primarily due to deforestation which has removed most of its habitat.

Answer: Black-chested buzzard eagle

The young birds have dark brown to black plumage, with a light underside and dark markings on the breast, belly and thighs. Adults are dark grey, sometimes appearing blue, sometimes black. They have dark feathers on the breast that contrast vividly with the white of the rest of the underside. Because they live in open areas of South America, they are often called Chilean eagles in Europe, a more elegant name than Black-chested buzzard eagle.

There are two sub-species, Eastern and Western, roughly demarcated by the Andes Mountains.

They are useful in helping control the spread of European rabbits, which have become a significant food source since their introduction.

Answer: Tawny eagle

The tawny eagle's upper plumage is brown, in varying shades, with dark flight feathers on its wings, and a dark tail. The tawny eagle is a close relative of the migratory steppe eagle, and the two were once considered to be subspecies of the same species, but they are now considered to be separate species. Like the steppe eagle, it dwells in open areas - savannah, steppe, and desert regions are all fine places for them to live.

They are resident rather than migratory breeders, and usually lay one, two or three eggs at a time.

While the tawny eagle will kill prey when necessary, it prefers to feed off carrion.

Answer: Kamchatka peninsula

The picture might have offered a clue for this question, since the bird was clearly perching on ice, not commonly found in the waters of the other three regions. Steller's sea eagle is only found in northeastern Russia, and south as far as Japan. Their favorite foods are fish, especially salmon, and water birds such as ducks and gulls.

Although they are called sea eagles, and their generic name comes from words meaning salt eagle, they are not exclusively coastal - they are also found inland along large rivers, usually in areas with large trees.

Answer: Leucocephalus (white headed)

The appellation bald for these birds stems from the fuller term piebald, referring to a coloration that includes both black and white, since their distinctive white head and tail coloring is such an obvious contrast to their dark brown body plumage. They are found over most of the North American continent, and are the national bird of the United States. Somewhat unusually, females are larger than males.

In the second half of the twentieth century they were considered to be critically endangered, but the recovery has been so dramatic that by 2012 their IUCN listing was Least Concern.