The Birds in Europe Trivia Quiz

Answer: House sparrow

The house sparrow is about 16 cm long and wears a grey or brown plumage. Males have brighter colours than the females or the youngsters. House sparrows are native to Europe and greater parts of Asia. The most common subspecies lives in Europe and Siberia, while other subspecies inhabit Spain and the Baleares (Passer domesticus balearibericus); Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya (Passer domesticus tingitanus); Egypt and Sudan (Passer domesticus niloticus; Iran and Afghanistan (Passer domesticus persicus) or Cyprus and the Arabian peninsula (Passer domesticus biblicus). They are omnivores, but they greatly favour oats.
The black scoter (Melanitta Americana) is a large American duck, black in colour. They nest rarely in Europe.
The willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) is a medium to large ground-dwelling bird, closely related to the grouse and the pheasant.
The red-necked grebe (Podiceps grisegna) is a water bird breeding in Siberia and in Canada. During the winter they migrate to the Baltic Sea, the North Sea or the shores of California.

Answer: Common blackbird

The common blackbird is also called Eurasian blackbird. It prefers nesting in evergreen shrubs. As with many European birds, the blackbird is an omnivore. Blackbirds feed on the ground, hopping from one place to another. They have been seen to threaten other blackbirds away from the food, even when more than one feeding place was available.
The ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) is a reddish water bird.
The pallid swift (Apus pallidus) resembles a barn swallow, but is a different family of bird. It has a very light throat.
The yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii) has of course, as its name says, a yellow beak. It is a water bird living in the arctic shores.

Answer: Eurasian bullfinch

In England this bird is known as the bullfinch tout court. In other parts of the world its name is the common bullfinch or the Eurasian bullfinch. It resides mostly in forests, parks and gardens with conifer trees and a bushy undergrowth. They're monogamous, living in couples during the breeding season. In the winter they flock together with a few families.
Bullfinches feed on seeds and buds, but they occasionally consume some insects too. Black oil sunflower seeds are a special treat for them.
The northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a quite large duck.
The chukar (Alectoris chukar) is a large partridge, living in Asia and the Balkan.
The black-bellied sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis) is, as its name indicates, easily recognisable within its family by the black belly.

Answer: Great tit

The great tit lives in most of Europe (except above the Arctic circle) and a large part of Asia, as well as in the vicinity of the Atlas mountains in North-Africa. The description I gave is of the adult male, whereas the females and the juvenile birds have duller colours. It has a wide variety of songs and calls. Females sing a bit less frequently as males (perhaps because some of the calls and songs are used for defending their territory). The great tit lives in forests and in villages. It feeds on insects during the summer, and berries and seeds during the fall and winter.
The common crane (Grus grus) is about 100 to 130 cm tall and its colour is greyish-brownish.
The Eurasian coot (Fulica atra) is about 32 - 42 cm and almost all black.
The Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) is a seabird (about 38 cm long or more) and can be seen to glide a few centimetres above the water with rare wing beats.

Answer: Hooded crow

The hooded crow is an omnivore, with a predilection for molluscs and crabs (which it drops onto the rocks to break open the shell). They also pilfer nests of other water birds. The hooded crow makes its nest usually in a tall tree, using whatever is at hand: twigs and leaves, but also seaweed, animal bones, wire... The hooded crow lives in Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, as well as the western part of Siberia and the northern parts of the Middle East.
The European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) is a small water bird (about 14 cm long), all black but for a white speck on the romp near the tail.
The purple heron (Ardea purpurea) is a wading bird, about 78 to 97 cm tall, with reddish-brown plumage (and not the purplish which you might expect from its name).
The Eurasian oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) is a wading bird about 40 cm long, with black-and-white plumage, red legs and a long red beak.

Answer: English partridge

The English partridge, also known as the Hungarian partridge or the grey partridge, is about 30 cm tall. It is native to most of Europe and Central Asia and has successfully been integrated in North American wildlife. The well-known song about the Twelve Days of Christmas, misplaces this bird in a surrounding not fit for it: it would be quite unlikely to find a partridge in a pear tree (or whatever other tree).
Partridges feed mainly on seeds. Especially during their youth they consume some insects, too. Although there still is quite an amazing number of partridges (at least 1.6 million breeding pairs), the latest number show a decline in the population in most areas.
The Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) is a black-and white plumed bird that vaguely resembles a barn swallow, although it is not related to it.
The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a huge white bird, with a two-coloured beak: the upper half is greyish, the bottom half of the beak is bright orange.
The Caspian plover (Charadrius asiaticus) is a small wading bird (about 19cm tall) native to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Answer: European robin

The robin has a greyish to brownish back and a whitish belly. Males and females have the same plumage. It lives in almost all of Europe, plus some territories in Northern Africa and the Middle East. The robin prefers woodland or parks and gardens, and feeds mainly on insects. During the winter however it supplements its diet with berries and table scraps, where available.
The red-necked nightjar (Caprimulgus ruficollis) is a grey bird of about 32 cm long, hunting moths at night. Only its neck is reddish.
The purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) has a distinguished purple plumage.
The black-winged pratincole (Glareola nordmanni) is a wading bird, brown at the back and whitish at the belly, with black wingtips.

Answer: Eurasian wren

The wren is the bird we are looking for. It lives in various habitats, from arable land to forests. The wren is omnivorous: it consumes insects and spiders, as well as berries and seeds (the latter mostly in winter). It lives in almost all of Europe, including Iceland, as well as in East-Asia and in North-America.
The black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) is a long-legged bird living on the shores.
The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a seabird of the gull family, with white and grey plumage.
The red kite(Milvus milvus) is a bird of prey with brownish-reddish plumage, while the wings are black and white.

Answer: Eurasian jay

The Eurasian jay occurs in all of Europe and in eastern parts of Asia (China, Japan, from Vietnam to Myanmar). Its preferred habitat is forests, especially oak forests. During spring and summer, they feed mainly on insects and on bird eggs, a diet they supplement in fall and winter with berries, seeds and acorns. Some jays have been reported to harvest a stock of over 3,000 acorns.
The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) has an orange body with blue wings.
The European green woodpecker (Picus viridis) has a greenish-brownish body with a red crown and black around the eyes.
The bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) is a small brown bird. The female and the juvenile have only brownish-greyish plumage, but the male sports different colours - including of course blue on the throat.

Answer: Eurasian golden oriole

Given the four choices, I'm quite convinced you guessed it's a Eurasian bird. But the scientific name should be sufficient to point you in the correct direction: after all, the common name is not that different from the scientific name.
The golden oriole breeds in almost all of Europe and western Asia, but migrates to central and southern Africa for the winter. Even though they have a very distinguished plumage, they manage to hide quite well in the top of the trees, so they have only birds of prey as natural enemies. The golden oriole feeds on fruits, insects and seeds, which they hold against the twig on which they're sitting.
The Eurasian capercaillie(Tetrao urogallus) is a large grouse, dark grey to dark brown in body with greenish plumage at the chest.
The Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope) is a duck with a grey back, a pink chest and a white belly. The tail is black.
The Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a tall white wading bird.