Bird behaviors
What does stooping mean when a bird does it?
1) hanging from a branch
2) pooping
3) diving for prey
4) hunching over
3) diving for prey
Which bird as the longest migration?
1) Northern albatross
2) Arctic tern
3) Yellow warbler
2) Arctic tern
The Arctic tern travels 44,000 - 59,000 miles on their migration journey every year.
Which of these is the heaviest living bird?
1) Emu
2) Ostrich
3) Emperor penguin
2) Ostriches are by far the heaviest living bird. An adult male weighs between 220 - 320 pounds.
Where do Steller's Jays make their nests?
1) Near the top of the tree
2) On a branch close to the trunk
3) In a tree cavity
2) On a branch close to the trunk
The dark-eyed junco fledges from the ground.
True or false
True
How old are mountain bluebirds when they fledge?
1) 7-11 days
2) 14-18 days
3) 19-23 days
3) 19-23 days
1) less than one inch
2) 1-2 inches
3) 2-3 inches
2) 1-2 inches
Which of these places will pigeons NOT choose for a nesting site:
1) farmland
2) a tall building
3) a rocky place
4) a tree
4) a tree
Which statement about brown-headed cowbirds is not true:
1) They lay 10 times as many eggs as other birds.
2) They lay their eggs in another bird's nest.
3) They are related to crows.
3) They are related to crows.
Brown-headed cowbirds are most closely related to orioles, blackbirds and grackles.
It is estimated that cats kill the following number of songbirds per year in the United States:
1) 500 million
2) 1 billion
3) more than 1 billion
3) more than 1 billion
Scientists estimate that cats kill 1.4 to 3.7 billion songbirds a year.
If you wanted to touch a material on your own body that is made of the exact same protein as a bald eagle's talons and beak, what would you touch?
1) Your teeth
2) Your kneecaps
3) Your fingernails
4) Your tooth enamel
3) Your fingernails (and hair!) Human nails are made of keratin and so are birds' feathers, talons and beaks.
True or False
If you touch a nestling that has fallen from its nest, its parents will abandon it.
False! Bird parents will keep taking care of a nestling that has fallen from its nest. You can try to put it back in its nest or make a nest out of a plastic container lined with grass.
True or false
When swallows fly low to the ground, it can be a sign that rain is coming.
True.
The drop in atmospheric pressure before it rains causes insects to fly lower to the ground. Swallows hunt insects and thus, they too will fly lower to the ground.
Peregrin falcons can fly up to:
1) 100 mph
2) 150 mph
3) more than 200 mph
3) more than 200 mph
The top speed a peregrine falcon has been recorded as flying is 242 mph.
Which of these 3 types of glands secretes oil that ducks use to waterproof their feathers?
1) Harderian gland
2) Supraorbital gland
3) Uropygial gland
3) Uropygial gland
The supraorbital gland takes salt out of a bird's bloodstream so they can drink seawater.
The Harderian gland lubricates birds' eyes.
Are songbirds hatched precocial or altricial?
Songbirds hatch in an altricial state meaning that they they hatch blind, featherless, and completely dependent on their parents.