Red Feather Day for Wild Birds Quiz

Answer: Crimson chat

The other three options listed here are all birds from the Americas, not Australia. Crimson chats (Ephthianura albifrons) are found mainly in flocks in inland and Western Australia. Apart from their red plumage, they have a white throat, black plumage around the eyes and a grayish-coloured back. They ground feed for insects and feed on flowers for nectar.

Answer: Green

King bird of paradise (Cicinnurus regius) has a ruby-red plumage and a white belly with some green and orange. It has a black spot above each eye. It has a short main tail with two long, wire-like tail feathers. These feathers have a green disc at the end of each of them.

The male king bird of paradise hangs upside down from branches, fluffs its abdomen feathers and swings the tail feathers for its courtship display.

Answer: Satyr tragopan

Satyr tragopan is a mountain bird that is shy and sedentary. It is a bulky pheasant that lives in the forested slopes of the Himalayas even up to 13,900 feet above sea level. It spends alot of time in the trees, but nests and feeds on the ground. It lives in the higher altitudes in summer, but moves to lower ground in winter.
Hoatzin is a type of South American cuckoo. Dunnock is a European house-sparrow; a songbird. Congo peafowl is a species of wild pheasant native to central Africa.

Answer: Red bishop

The red bishop (Euplectes orix) is a small bishop bird with black face, belly and breast, but bright red around its back and neck. It is only when it is breeding that the male red bishop develops these colours. When it is not breeding it becomes brown, the same colour as the females and the immature bishops.

It is a busy bird with a twittering song and is seen in flocks and is widespread throughout Africa including gardens. Male red bishops are known to mate with three or four different females.

These birds feed on seeds and some insects. "Euplectes" is a Greek word meaning "good" or "fine".

Answer: Lady Ross's turaco

Lady Ross's turaco (Musophaga rossae) is named after Lady Anne Ross, wife of the British explorer rear-admiral Sir James Ross. There are twenty two species of turaco native to Africa including this one which only lives in central Africa. It is common in woodland and is non-migratory. Most of its plumage is a deep violet-black with a short erect crimson crest.

Its flight is clumsy, but this reveals its unmistakable crimson feathers. Blacksmith plover is a black and white bird from southern Africa. Magellanic steamer is a flightless duck from South America. Eleanora's falcon is named after a 14th-century princess from Sardinia.

Answer: Complex dancing display

Andean cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruviana) has scarlet or orange-red plumage on its head and upper body. Its wings and tail are black with white tertials. They perform complex dancing displays during the breeding season. They live on low to mid-altitudes in wooded areas.

Their nests are made of mud and plants on the walls of caves and rocks. The name "rupicola" is taken from the Latin word "rupes" which means "rocks" and the suffix "cola" which means "dweller". The other mating display options listed here are used by the manakin, ocellated antbird and honeyeater.

Answer: Scarlet ibis

Scarlet ibis (Eudocimus ruber) has scarlet plumage apart from its black wing tips. It has a long red beak except during the breeding season when the male's beak is black. They often gather in large flocks in marshes, mangroves and ricefields along with other species.

They are seen mostly in the lowlands of Columbia, Guiana, some Caribbean islands and up into Central America. The name "eudocimus" is taken from the Greek word meaning "glorious". The word "eudocimus" is taken from "eu" meaning "good" and "dokimus" meaning "esteemed".

Answer: Northern cardinal

Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a bright red bird with a crest on top of its head and a red beak which is surrounded by a black face and throat. It is the state bird of seven states in the USA: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. The northern cardinal is of the genus cardinalis and of the family Cardinalidae.

This bird was named after the Roman Catholic cardinals who, at the time of the discoveries of the New World by Europeans, wore (and still wear) a bright red attire with a bright red cap called a galero.

Answer: European robin

European robin (Erithacus rubecola) is a different species from the American robin, Indian robin and others. Its Old English name is robin redbreast. It is a migratory bird that breeds in north east Europe and western Siberia in summer, then returns to southwest Europe in winter.

It is a popular garden bird in Britain as shown on Christmas cards. The first postmen in Britain, from the Victorian days, wore bright red uniforms and delivered the post even on Christmas Day. They were given the nickname robin redbreasts.

As a result of this, the Christmas cards had drawings of robins (the birds) delivering cards too.

Answer: Common crossbill

Common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) is the commonest and the most widely distributed of the species of the genus Loxia. They are part of the finch family. They get their name because their beaks cross over one another. This is an ideal adaptation for extracting the seeds from conifer trees.

They breed in conifers, especially in spruce, where they nest high up in the trees. "Loxos" is a Greek word meaning "slanting" or "crosswise". "Curvata" is a Latin word meaning "curved".