Them Weird Wingers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Helmeted hornbill

This fascinating bird lives on the Malay peninsula and in Sumatra and Borneo. It is a large bird from the hornbill family that has a call that resembles hoots and maniacal laughter. It is a fruit eating bird but may rarely eat insects. The feathers of this bird are usually black all over the body except on the tail, where they are white.

The casque and the bill of this bird make up almost 10 percent of the body weight of the bird, which sets it apart from all other members of the hornbill family.

The fighting rituals of the males would involve ramming of these casques to show dominance. The casque is a source of what is called hornbill ivory, which is used to make ornaments.

Answer: Marabou stork

This is a really strange looking bird. It is commonly found in the African continent, generally south of the Sahara desert. It is so called because of the way it looks. It is a big wading bird. It has a bald head and neck and usually has black feather with a white belly.

This bird is said to have a bad temper. It is a scavenger and usually feeds on dead animals or fish. It also eats other small birds and animals. If found living near human habitations, these stork eat almost anything found in the garbage.

The female usually lays around three eggs at once. Its scientific name is Leptoptilos crumenifer.

Answer: Western Ghats of south India

Its scientific name is Batrachostomus moniliger. It is a nocturnal bird and is generally found only in forests. It is related to the nightjars. They have binocular vision because their eyes face forward. It has a hooked beak and a pair of small wings. The sexes can be separated by the color of their feathers. The general color of their plumage provides them good camouflage and thus, are difficult to spot. It has a characteristic call which may resemble frog sounds. It mostly feeds on insects. The female only lays one egg.

It is a weird looking bird, I tell ya!

Answer: Superb bird-of-paradise

Yes, that is the common name of the bird!

Lophorina superba is the scientific name of this bird and belongs to the Paradisaeidae family. The male and female birds have vast differences. The main difference lies in the color of their plumage. The male has a beautiful green crown and a breast area that is bluish green. The male also has a cape like apparatus that is can erect for purposes of attracting a mate! The female is predominantly reddish brown. This bird is well known for its spectacular and weird courtship display. The males cleans the area around him and calls the female with a sound that is very characteristic of their species. Then he goes on to erect his cape and bring his breast feathers up to form an elliptical structures that almost makes him look another creature altogether. During this ritual it also creates a snapping sound using its tail feathers. Although their feeding habits are not well known, they are said to eat fruits and insects.

Answer: Kiwi

These birds are found only in New Zealand. They belong to the genus Apteryx. Some of the species in this genus are Apteryx haastii or the great spotted kiwi and Apteryx rowi or the Okarito kiwi. They usually grow to the size of a chicken. A distinctive feature of the kiwis is their lack of tails.

These birds have vestigial wings which are tiny. Females lay only one eggs. Unlike other birds, their bones are not hollow and are filled with marrow. They are nocturnal birds. Another distinctive feature of these birds are the presence of nostrils at the end of their beaks.

They mostly feed on worms, seeds and small invertebrates. They are monogamous birds. These birds are considered as a national symbol in New Zealand and are the reasons why locals are often called kiwis, themselves.

Answer: True

Its scientific name is Rhynochetos jubatus. It is ground dwelling bird that is usually grey in color. The wings are rudimentary and not used much by the bird other than to glide or for quick movement but it is not exactly flightless. It is said they do not have the muscles required to fly.

These wings are also used in showing dominance over other kagus or to warn predators away. A distinctive feature of these birds is the presence of nasal corns covering their nostrils. They are carnivorous and eat mostly lizards and snails.

Other prey include centipedes, insects and spiders. They are monogamous birds and females lay only one egg.

Answer: Carrion

Its scientific name is Gymnogyps californianus. It is a very large North American scavenger and will eat anything from the carcass of a bear to that of a whale or a cougar. It scavenges for food by following other scavenger birds like eagles and fight them off for the prize. If they eat once, they will go for a long time without food before gorging up to a kilo again. They do not have a good sense of smell at all. These birds have predominantly black feathers except for patches of white under their wide wings. Their heads and necks have few to no feathers. The female lays only one egg every year. They achieve sexual maturity very late, at around the age of six. The females are generally smaller than the males.

The bird, as magnificent as it is, looks hideous. Poor thing has very few numbers in the wild.

Answer: Hoatzin

It is also called the Canje pheasant and has the scientific name as Opisthocomus hoazin. It is mostly found in the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America. They have a characteristic blue face and red eyes. It also has a crest atop its head. It is predominantly a herbivore and eats only fruits and flowers.

It has a characteristic digestive system which aids bacterial fermentation of vegetable matter. It is called stinkbird due to its repulsive smell caused by the food it eats and the manner in which said food is digested.

The female lays two or three eggs at once. The chicks have a characteristic claws on their wings which help them in escaping from a predator attack and swimming underwater. These birds are very noisy.

Answer: Long-wattled umbrellabird

Cephalopterus penduliger is its scientific name. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. It is a large bird and females are smaller than the males. Males have a beautiful black crest over their head. Their wattles can reach upwards of 35 centimetres and are used in display for courtship or disputes. They eat fruits, insects and nuts and also lizards. They belong to the family Cotingidae.

Other birds having wattles are chickens and wild turkeys. They are fleshy extensions from the head or neck of the bird and are usually used in courting mates.

Answer: Its really long tail

The tail of this bird can grow over 1 metre!

Its scientific name is Astrapia mayeri. It is found mainly in Papua New Guinea. It is more commonly called as the ribbon-tailed astrapia. It belongs to the family Paradisaeidae (bird-of-paradise). There a vast difference in the plumage of a male and female bird. The male bird is usually velvet black with a green plumage. There is a characteristic ball kind of plume above its bill. It has two ribbon like tail feather which can grow to be many times their body length. The female has a brown plumage. They usually feed on fruits. They are more or less polygamous in mating.