Birds Quiz
Peregrines, albatrosses, cuckoos and flamingos: 15 questions on the record breakers of the bird world.
What is the scientific study of birds called?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Ornithology
Ornithology comes from the Greek ornis, meaning bird. Ichthyology is the study of fish, herpetology covers reptiles and amphibians, and entomology is the study of insects.
Birdwatching is one of the few hobbies where amateurs regularly contribute to real science, through counts such as the Christmas Bird Count held since 1900.
Which bird of prey is the national bird of the United States?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Bald eagle
The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782. It is not bald at all: the name comes from an old sense of the word meaning white headed.
Bald eagles were nearly wiped out by the pesticide DDT, falling to about 400 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states by 1963 before a dramatic recovery.
Which bird lays the largest egg of any living bird?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Ostrich
An ostrich egg weighs around 1.4 kg (3 lb), about the same as two dozen chicken eggs, and has a shell so strong that an adult human can stand on it.
Relative to the mother's body size, though, the ostrich egg is actually the smallest of any bird, at only about one percent of her weight.
Which bird is the fastest animal on Earth, reaching more than 320 km/h (200 mph) in a hunting dive?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon folds its wings and drops on prey in a dive called a stoop, with speeds above 320 km/h (200 mph) recorded. Special bony baffles in its nostrils let it breathe at that speed.
Peregrines have adapted superbly to cities, nesting on skyscrapers and cathedrals and feeding on pigeons.
Which is the smallest bird in the world, weighing less than 2 grams?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Bee hummingbird
The bee hummingbird of Cuba measures around 5 to 6 cm (2 to 2.4 in) and weighs under 2 grams, lighter than a penny. Its eggs are the size of coffee beans.
Its heart can beat more than 1,200 times a minute, and it must feed roughly every ten minutes to stay alive.
Which bird's pink colour comes from pigments in the algae and shrimp it eats?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Flamingo
Flamingos are born grey and turn pink as carotenoid pigments from their diet of algae and small crustaceans build up in their feathers; zoo birds are fed supplements to keep the colour.
A flamingo's knee is hidden up by its body; the backward bending joint halfway down its leg is actually its ankle.
Which seabird has the largest wingspan of any living bird, at up to about 3.5 m (11.5 ft)?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Wandering albatross
The wandering albatross of the Southern Ocean has a wingspan reaching around 3.5 m (11.5 ft). It locks its wings and glides for hours on ocean winds, barely flapping at all.
Wandering albatrosses can live past 60 and often fly tens of thousands of kilometres a year on foraging trips.
Which bird is famous for laying its eggs in other birds' nests so that unwitting foster parents raise its chicks?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Common cuckoo
The common cuckoo is a brood parasite. The female lays an egg mimicking the host's, and the newly hatched cuckoo chick pushes the other eggs out of the nest to monopolise its foster parents.
Female cuckoos belong to lines that each specialise in one host species, from reed warblers to dunnocks, producing matching eggs.
Which bird makes the longest migration of any animal, flying between the Arctic and the Antarctic each year?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Arctic tern
The Arctic tern breeds in the Arctic summer and then flies to the Antarctic for the southern summer. Tracking studies have measured zigzagging round trips of more than 70,000 km (43,000 miles).
Because it follows summer around the globe, the Arctic tern probably sees more daylight each year than any other animal.
In which penguin species does the male incubate a single egg on his feet through the Antarctic winter while the female feeds at sea?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Emperor penguin
Male emperor penguins balance the egg on their feet under a fold of skin for about two months of polar darkness, huddling together in temperatures below minus 40 and eating nothing.
Emperor penguins are the deepest diving birds, reaching depths beyond 500 m (1,640 ft) and holding their breath for over 20 minutes.
Roughly how far can an owl rotate its head?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
270 degrees
Owls can turn their heads about 270 degrees in either direction. Their eyes are fixed tubes that cannot swivel, so they evolved extra neck vertebrae and blood vessels that keep flowing when twisted.
An owl's facial disc works like a satellite dish, funnelling sound to ears that are set at different heights to pinpoint prey in total darkness.
Which flightless bird lays the largest egg relative to its body size, at up to about 20 percent of the female's weight?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Kiwi
A kiwi egg can weigh around a fifth of the female's body weight, roughly six times larger than expected for a bird of her size. In the final days she cannot eat because the egg fills her body.
Kiwi are also the only birds with nostrils at the tip of the beak, which they use to sniff out worms underground.
Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, died in 1914 at which American zoo?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Cincinnati Zoo
Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo on 1 September 1914, ending a species that had numbered in the billions only decades earlier before mass hunting and deforestation destroyed it.
Her preserved body is kept at the Smithsonian in Washington, and the Cincinnati Zoo's pagoda where she lived is now a memorial.
Which Australian bird is famous for mimicking chainsaws, car alarms and camera shutters in its courtship song?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Superb lyrebird
The superb lyrebird has the most complex vocal organ of any songbird and weaves the calls of around 20 other species, plus man made sounds it has heard, into its elaborate display.
The lyrebird appears on the Australian 10 cent coin, and its tail feathers resemble a classical lyre, which gave it the name.
Which bird can stay airborne for about ten months without landing, according to a 2016 tracking study?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Common swift
A 2016 study in Current Biology fitted common swifts with tiny data loggers and found that some non breeding birds spent ten months in continuous flight, eating, drinking and even sleeping on the wing.
Swifts have legs so short and weak that they struggle to take off from flat ground, so they land only to nest.
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All Science quizzes →About the Birds Quiz
A peregrine falcon in a dive is the fastest animal on Earth, the Arctic tern commutes from pole to pole every year, and a common swift can stay airborne for ten months without landing. Birds are the last living dinosaurs, and they still break records that no mammal can touch.
These 15 questions cover the famous record holders, migration marvels, strange breeding habits and a few legends, from the pink of the flamingo to Martha the passenger pigeon. The first few are gentle, then the questions dig into cuckoos, lyrebirds and emperor penguins. It suits birdwatchers, nature documentary fans and anyone who wants a quiz that soars a little higher than the usual pub round.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What is the fastest bird in the world?
The peregrine falcon, which exceeds 320 km/h (200 mph) in a hunting dive. In level flight the fastest confirmed bird is the common swift, at around 110 km/h (69 mph).
Which bird has the longest migration?
The Arctic tern, which flies between the Arctic and Antarctic every year. Tracking studies have recorded individual birds covering more than 70,000 km (43,000 miles) in a single year.
Are birds really dinosaurs?
Yes. Birds evolved from small feathered theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic, so scientists classify them as living dinosaurs, the only group to survive the mass extinction 66 million years ago.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- What is the scientific study of birds called?
Ornithology Ornithology comes from the Greek ornis, meaning bird. Ichthyology is the study of fish, herpetology covers reptiles and amphibians, and entomology is the study of insects. Birdwatching is one of the few hobbies where amateurs regularly contribute to real science, through counts such as the Christmas Bird Count held since 1900. - Which bird of prey is the national bird of the United States?
Bald eagle The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782. It is not bald at all: the name comes from an old sense of the word meaning white headed. Bald eagles were nearly wiped out by the pesticide DDT, falling to about 400 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states by 1963 before a dramatic recovery. - Which bird lays the largest egg of any living bird?
Ostrich An ostrich egg weighs around 1.4 kg (3 lb), about the same as two dozen chicken eggs, and has a shell so strong that an adult human can stand on it. Relative to the mother's body size, though, the ostrich egg is actually the smallest of any bird, at only about one percent of her weight. - Which bird is the fastest animal on Earth, reaching more than 320 km/h (200 mph) in a hunting dive?
Peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon folds its wings and drops on prey in a dive called a stoop, with speeds above 320 km/h (200 mph) recorded. Special bony baffles in its nostrils let it breathe at that speed. Peregrines have adapted superbly to cities, nesting on skyscrapers and cathedrals and feeding on pigeons. - Which is the smallest bird in the world, weighing less than 2 grams?
Bee hummingbird The bee hummingbird of Cuba measures around 5 to 6 cm (2 to 2.4 in) and weighs under 2 grams, lighter than a penny. Its eggs are the size of coffee beans. Its heart can beat more than 1,200 times a minute, and it must feed roughly every ten minutes to stay alive. - Which bird's pink colour comes from pigments in the algae and shrimp it eats?
Flamingo Flamingos are born grey and turn pink as carotenoid pigments from their diet of algae and small crustaceans build up in their feathers; zoo birds are fed supplements to keep the colour. A flamingo's knee is hidden up by its body; the backward bending joint halfway down its leg is actually its ankle. - Which seabird has the largest wingspan of any living bird, at up to about 3.5 m (11.5 ft)?
Wandering albatross The wandering albatross of the Southern Ocean has a wingspan reaching around 3.5 m (11.5 ft). It locks its wings and glides for hours on ocean winds, barely flapping at all. Wandering albatrosses can live past 60 and often fly tens of thousands of kilometres a year on foraging trips. - Which bird is famous for laying its eggs in other birds' nests so that unwitting foster parents raise its chicks?
Common cuckoo The common cuckoo is a brood parasite. The female lays an egg mimicking the host's, and the newly hatched cuckoo chick pushes the other eggs out of the nest to monopolise its foster parents. Female cuckoos belong to lines that each specialise in one host species, from reed warblers to dunnocks, producing matching eggs. - Which bird makes the longest migration of any animal, flying between the Arctic and the Antarctic each year?
Arctic tern The Arctic tern breeds in the Arctic summer and then flies to the Antarctic for the southern summer. Tracking studies have measured zigzagging round trips of more than 70,000 km (43,000 miles). Because it follows summer around the globe, the Arctic tern probably sees more daylight each year than any other animal. - In which penguin species does the male incubate a single egg on his feet through the Antarctic winter while the female feeds at sea?
Emperor penguin Male emperor penguins balance the egg on their feet under a fold of skin for about two months of polar darkness, huddling together in temperatures below minus 40 and eating nothing. Emperor penguins are the deepest diving birds, reaching depths beyond 500 m (1,640 ft) and holding their breath for over 20 minutes. - Roughly how far can an owl rotate its head?
270 degrees Owls can turn their heads about 270 degrees in either direction. Their eyes are fixed tubes that cannot swivel, so they evolved extra neck vertebrae and blood vessels that keep flowing when twisted. An owl's facial disc works like a satellite dish, funnelling sound to ears that are set at different heights to pinpoint prey in total darkness. - Which flightless bird lays the largest egg relative to its body size, at up to about 20 percent of the female's weight?
Kiwi A kiwi egg can weigh around a fifth of the female's body weight, roughly six times larger than expected for a bird of her size. In the final days she cannot eat because the egg fills her body. Kiwi are also the only birds with nostrils at the tip of the beak, which they use to sniff out worms underground. - Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, died in 1914 at which American zoo?
Cincinnati Zoo Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo on 1 September 1914, ending a species that had numbered in the billions only decades earlier before mass hunting and deforestation destroyed it. Her preserved body is kept at the Smithsonian in Washington, and the Cincinnati Zoo's pagoda where she lived is now a memorial. - Which Australian bird is famous for mimicking chainsaws, car alarms and camera shutters in its courtship song?
Superb lyrebird The superb lyrebird has the most complex vocal organ of any songbird and weaves the calls of around 20 other species, plus man made sounds it has heard, into its elaborate display. The lyrebird appears on the Australian 10 cent coin, and its tail feathers resemble a classical lyre, which gave it the name. - Which bird can stay airborne for about ten months without landing, according to a 2016 tracking study?
Common swift A 2016 study in Current Biology fitted common swifts with tiny data loggers and found that some non breeding birds spent ten months in continuous flight, eating, drinking and even sleeping on the wing. Swifts have legs so short and weak that they struggle to take off from flat ground, so they land only to nest.
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