Four Calling Birds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mallard

The mallard is the only duck in the list. It is one of the most common ducks in the northern hemisphere. The drake, which is the male bird, has a brightly coloured greenish blue head. The female is mainly brown, but does have some purple feathers.

Answer: Cheese

The yellowhammer is about the same size of a sparrow, but the male bird is much more brightly coloured. It is mainly yellow in colour, with a brown tail, although the female is much duller in colour and can look as if it is just brown. Its song sounds as if it is singing 'little bit of bread and no cheese'

Answer: Swan

The mute swan does make some sounds, but it is not as vocal as most birds. As a result, it was given a name which indicates that it cannot make any noise at all. By legend, the mute swan is supposed to sing one beautiful song just before its death, which gives us the expression of 'swan song' to describe the final performance of someone who is about to retire.

Answer: Cuckoo

The cuckoo lays her eggs in nests belonging to smaller birds, such as the dunnock or reed warbler. When the young cuckoo hatches, it is quite ruthless and will kick the other chicks out of the nest so that it can receive all the food that its foster parents bring. The cuckoo has been known by the same name in English since the thirteenth century.

Answer: Crow

Other birds in the crow, officially the corvid, family are the rook, jackdaw and raven. They are very intelligent birds and have been observed making tools or using logic to solve problems. For example, they can fashion hooks to extract morsels, or drop stones into a container to raise the water level and enable themselves to reach food.

However, the sounds they produce are not the most musical in the bird population.

Answer: Owl

This is the call of the tawny owl, and is quoted by William Shakespeare in his play called 'Love's Labour's Lost'. Owls are nocturnal birds, coming out at night to hunt for food, so they would certainly be around at 4 a.m. The nightingale and nightjar are also nocturnal. The corncrake isn't, but it is hard to see, as it is a secretive bird.

Answer: Turkey

The turkey is one of the largest birds, and is eaten in the UK as part of the Christmas meal and at Thanksgiving in the USA. It is usually only the male birds who produce the 'gobbling' sound, and it is often used to attract females or warn off other males when the bird is looking for a mate.

Answer: Parrot

Many species of parrot can learn to copy the words spoken by their owners, with some of them becoming well known because of the number of words they have acquired. Some have been recorded as having a vocabulary of hundreds of words, and they would certainly be able to shout 'get up' at you. Other birds which can learn to talk are mynah birds and budgerigars.

Answer: Dove

The cooing sound is most associated with doves and pigeons. This particular sound is used to attract a mate or to defend their territory. Sparrows chirp and wrens have a musical song, which is quite loud for its size. Peacocks can be extremely noisy, and make a sound which seems like someone screaming - you definitely wouldn't sleep with one of them outside your window.

Answer: Blackbird

The blackbird has one of the most popular songs in the UK. Although the male has all black plumage, the female is actually brown with streaks on her breast. The blackbird is a member of the thrush family. The other birds also have names based on their colouring, as the greenfinch really is green and the blue tit is blue.

The pied wagtail has black, white and grey feathers, and pied means multi coloured.