10 Questions: North American Birds Multiple Choice Quiz | Animals

Answer: cackling goose

The cackling goose was split from the Canada goose in 2004. The most noticeable difference is the small size of the cackling compared to the Canada goose. There can be some overlap in size, so other features such as head and bill shape, grin patch, and breast color should also be used in identifying the species.

Answer: blue

An adult male indigo bunting in full sun would appear blue or indigo. Since the color does not come from pigment, but from the way light reflects off the feathers, it might appear black if there is not enough light to reflect the blue color.

Black terns are black in breeding plumage, but are white the rest of the year. red-winged blackbirds have red epaulets, but the wing itself is black. ring-necked ducks do actually have a dark cinnamon ring on their neck, but it is generally not visible on their dark neck, unlike the bright white ring on their bill.

Answer: snail kite

Common in Central and South America, the snail kite is limited in North America to freshwater marshes in central and south Florida, mostly in the Everglades. Its diet consists almost exclusively of snails, primarily apple snails. The Florida specimen was formerly called the Everglades kite.

Answer: common loon

The Canadian dollar coin, which bears the image of Queen Elizabeth on one side and the common loon on the other, was introduced in 1987 and was quickly dubbed the "loonie". Loons are called divers in Europe.

Answer: an immature bald eagle

Immature golden eagles will show some white in the tail and white in the wing. But the white in the wing is in the area of the "wrist" rather than the "armpit", while immature bald eagles show white in the "armpits". Immature turkey vultures also show white in the "wrist" and osprey are almost entirely white underneath.

Answer: flying insects

Goatsuckers, also called nightjars, are represented in North America by such species as the common nighthawk, the whip-poor-will, and the common poorwill. They are nocturnal, insect eating birds. They are part of the family called Caprimulgidae, which comes from the Latin Caprimulgus, meaning goatsucker. It was at one time thought that they sucked milk from goats.

Answer: Texas

The belted kingfisher can be found in most of the lower 48 states, including Texas. The green kingfisher is found in Texas and southeast Arizona. The ringed kingfisher is found only in Texas.

Answer: the waterlogged feathers often appear black

The colors in the feathers of a bird are formed in two ways, from pigments and from the way light reflects off them due to the structure of the feather. Reds and yellows come from pigments. Blues are from light refraction and greens are from a combination of yellow pigment overlaying a blue reflecting feather structure.

The feathers of a bird that is completely waterlogged, as one washed ashore after a storm would be, are too wet to reflect any light and so would appear black. Thus any bird that was largely green or blue (such as blue jays, Steller's jays, blue grosbeaks, or green herons) would appear black instead of blue and thus be difficult to identify.

Answer: apple snails are a large part of their diet

The snail kite is a bird of prey in the same family as hawks, falcons and eagles. The limpkin is a long-legged wader which looks like a large rail, though it is actually related to cranes. But these very different species have several things in common. Both can be found in fresh water marshes in Central America and the Caribbean.

The range of both species in North America is limited to south and central Florida. And snails, primarily apple snails, make up a large portion of their diet.

Answer: it slowly dips its tail downward

While most empids often flick their tail and wings, the gray flycatcher is unique in its downward, phoebe-like tail wag, making it the easiest of the empids to identify.