Chapter 7

Question 1

What is the scientific name for feathers?

Answer 1

Plumage

Question 2

What is the largest flying bird?

Answer 2

Andean condor

Question 3

What are the bills of birds made of?

Answer 3

Keratin

Question 4

What is the ridge on the sternum that provides the necessary attachment point for the flight muscles?

Answer 4

Keel

Question 5

What is the retractable group of feathers on the front of the wing that is supported by the “thumb bones”?

Answer 5

Alula

Question 6

What is the most important flight muscle?

Answer 6

Pectorals

Question 7

What allows the air to flow through the lungs instead of just in and out?

Answer 7

Air capillaries

Question 8

How many times does a bird inhale and exhale to move each breath of air through its respiratory system?

Answer 8

Twice

Question 9

How many chambers are in a bird’s heart?

Answer 9

Four

Question 10

What is the storage sac in the esophagus that moistens food and releases it in a steady stream to the rest of the digestive system?

Answer 10

Crop

Question 11

What organ grinds the food to make it more easily absorbed?

Answer 11

Gizzard

Question 12

What type of vision allows birds to see most of their surroundings at once?

Answer 12

Monocular vision

Question 13

What type of vision in which both eyes focus on the same object?

Answer 13

Binocular vision

Question 14

What type of feathers are the strong feathers on the bird’s body, wings, and tail?

Answer 14

Contour feathers

Question 15

What are the soft, fluffy feathers close to the bird’s body?

Answer 15

Down feathers

Question 16

What is the gland that produces oil used to condition and waterproof the feathers?

Answer 16

Preen gland

Question 17

What is the process in which birds replace old, broken, or missing feathers?

Answer 17

Molting

Question 18

What is a structure that changes the flow of air to produce a force?

Answer 18

Airfoil

Question 19

What is the simplest kind of flight that is when a bird coasts “downhill”?

Answer 19

Gliding

Question 20

What is the type of flying that allows birds to rest and save energy by alternating flapping with gliding or coasting?

Answer 20

Intermittent flight

Question 21

What is the built-in knowledge that birds possess at birth that let them know where to nest and what kind of nest to build?

Answer 21

Instincts

Question 22

What is the unusual organ that produces a bird’s singing voice without the use of vocal cords?

Answer 22

Syrinx

Question 23

What is the practice of taking a dust bath to get rid of parasites?

Answer 23

Dusting

Question 24

What is it called when flocks of small birds harass a hawk?

Answer 24

Mobbing

Question 25

What is the practice of ground nesting birds in thick grass sneaking away from the nest to draw attention to itself and away from the nest?

Answer 25

Rodent running

Question 26

What is the regular movement of animals between two habitats?

Answer 26

Migration

Question 27

What is the migration of animals a relatively short distance?

Answer 27

Altitudinal migration

Question 28

What are the routes that migrating birds follow year after year?

Answer 28

Flyways

Question 29

What is the complex package designed to nurture and protect the developing bird?

Answer 29

Egg

Question 30

What is the nutrient-rich fluid for the developing chick?

Answer 30

Yolk

Question 31

What does the embryo develop from?

Answer 31

Germinal spot

Question 32

What holds the yolk body in place by two dense, twisted cords?

Answer 32

Chalazae

Question 33

What is the outer part of the albumen that is made of keratin?

Answer 33

Shell membrane

Question 34

What is the eggshell made of?

Answer 34

Calcium carbonate

Question 35

What is the act of keeping the eggs warm for proper chick development?

Answer 35

Incubation

Question 36

What type of wings do land-soaring birds have?

Answer 36

Long, broad wings

Question 37

What two things determines the tail's shape?

Answer 37

Type of flight and habitat conditions

Question 38

Sandpipers and whimbrels have what type of bill that allows them to easily retrieve burrowing crustaceans?

Answer 38

Probing bills

Question 39

What type of bill do birds that capture insects mid-flight have that allow bills to open widely with hinged jaws?

Answer 39

Gaping bills

Question 40

What is the name of the straight, strong, pointed bill that omnivores such as crows have for their diverse diet of insects, fruits, eggs, crustaceans, and flesh?

Answer 40

All-purpose bill

Question 41

What is the name of the spatula-shaped bill that spoonbills use to scoop small aquatic animals from the water?

Answer 41

Straining bills

Question 42

What type of feet do songbirds have with three forward toes and one hind toe?

Answer 42

Perching feet

Question 43

What type of feet do birds that perch or climb vertically have with two forward toes and two hind toes?

Answer 43

Climbing feet

Question 44

What type of feet do hunting birds have that are armed with sharp, curved talons?

Answer 44

Grasping feet

Question 45

What are various colors, patterns, and markings that are characteristic of a particular bird species?

Answer 45

Field marks

Question 46

What are birds that hatch featherless and helpless?

Answer 46

Altricial birds

Question 47

What is the only bird that will climb down a tree trunk headfirst?

Answer 47

Nuthatch

Question 48

What type of bird has a unique mating ritual that includes building a nest and decorating it with shells, flowers, and other colorful objects?

Answer 48

Bowerbirds

Question 49

What bird has the ability to hover?

Answer 49

Hummingbird

Question 50

What is the smallest of all birds?

Answer 50

Bee hummingbird

Question 51

What category do eagles, hawks, and falcons fall under?

Answer 51

Birds of prey

Question 52

What is the world's fastest bird?

Answer 52

Peregrine falcon

Question 53

Pelicans, Grebes, and Gulls are in which category of birds?

Answer 53

Water birds

Question 54

What are birds that hatch with down and are able to run or swim shortly after birth?

Answer 54

Precocial

Question 55

What bird has a unique throat pouch used to catch fish?

Answer 55

Pelican

Question 56

What category of birds includes birds that have been or are hunted for food, such as the grouse, and other edible birds such as chickens?

Answer 56

Game birds

Question 57

What is the group of game birds are the only birds in the world not to provide any parental care for their young after hatching?

Answer 57

Megapodes

Question 58

What category of birds live in warm regions and include macaws, parakeets, and parrots?

Answer 58

Tropical birds

Question 59

What are birds that do not have a keel on the sternum, such as ostriches and emus?

Answer 59

Flightless birds

Question 60

What is the largest living bird?

Answer 60

Ostrich