.png){kind=logo}
Birds are a diverse group of animals that are found all over the world. From the smallest hummingbirds to the largest ostriches, there is a wide range of bird species, each with its own unique characteristics and behaviors. Whether you're a bird enthusiast or just looking to test your knowledge, these bird trivia questions are sure to be both informative and entertaining.
Here are some examples of bird trivia questions you might come across: What is the largest bird in the world? What is the smallest bird in the world? What is the fastest bird in the world? What is the most widespread bird species in the world? These questions cover various aspects of birds, including their size, speed, and distribution.
In addition to the scientific aspects of birds, there are also many fun and interesting facts to learn about. For example, did you know that the bird with the longest wingspan is the Wandering Albatross? Or that the bird with the longest migration is the Arctic Tern? These trivia questions will not only test your knowledge, but also give you a glimpse into the many fascinating aspects of the world of birds and their natural behaviors.
1. The state bird of Alaska is the willow ptarmigan, which is a type of what small Arctic bird?
Answer: Grouse
2. La Paz Waterfall Gardens in Costa Rica is a popular choice for tourists to admire the flora and fauna. This park attracts half of all of the 52 native species of what small hovering bird?
Answer: Hummingbird
3. The Little Owl, sometimes called the Owl of Athena, is the national bird of which Mediterranean country?
Answer: Greece
4. Its scientific name is Struthio camelus, but what is the common name for the bird that can’t fly but does lay the largest egg of any living bird species?
Answer: Ostrich
5. If they were allowed to compete at the Olympics, they would win the 100m in under 7 seconds! What bird is the fastest running animal on two legs?
Answer: Ostrich
6. What’s the fruity name of a flightless bird that lives in New Zealand?
Answer: Kiwi
7. Like many other birds, the feathers on an owl’s body replace themselves about once a year. What’s the name of the process?
Answer: Molting
8. Starring Tippi Hedren, the 1963 horror film "The Birds" was directed by what famous Englishman?
Answer: Alfred Hitchcock
9. The eyes of owls are fixed in their sockets, forcing them to turn their heads around. This is what “B” type of two-lensed vision, the singular of an optical enhancer used by birdwatchers, or maybe people at the baseball game?
Answer: Binocular
10. Which species of bird, found in Australia, is the second-largest living bird by height after the ostrich?
Answer: Emu
11. Led by their prima ballerina, Mlle. Upanova, a flock of ostriches puts on ballet shoes and dances to the music of Amilcare Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" in what 1940 Disney movie?
Answer: Fantasia
12. The last widely-accepted sighting of a certain bird species was in 1662 on the island nation of Mauritius. Intriguingly, due to the bird's remote home, the creature was considered mythological for a period of time. What is this bird?
Answer: Dodo
13. The smallest of Africa's waterfowl species, the African pygmy goose is native to what country that also has many lemur species?
Answer: Madagascar
14. A companion of headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter novels, Fawkes was what type of legendary bird?
Answer: Phoenix
15. In the 1996 film "Fly Away Home," Anna Paquin stars as a young glider pilot leading an abandoned group of geese south from Canada. The film was based on a real "Operation" that went by what guessable M-word?
Answer: Migration
16. Maybe they just don't know the words! At 2.4 inches long and weighing about 2 g, zunzuncitos are the smallest birds on the planet. They are a member of which family of birds, the only ones who are able to fly backwards?
Answer: Hummingbirds
17. A group of which black birds are kept captive at the Tower of London? According to superstition, the disappearance of these birds from the Tower will result in the fall of the Crown.
Answer: Ravens
18. According to Japanese legends, folding one thousand origami versions of what bird will grant an individual a wish from the gods?
Answer: Crane
19. Avian creatures provide warnings that demonic entities are in the area in what alliteratively named 2018 post-apocalyptic horror film starring Sandra Bullock?
Answer: Bird Box
20. The great horned owl is the official bird of what landlocked Canadian province at the top of the Rockies?
Answer: Alberta
21. What is the branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds? This branch attracted public attention following the 2018 Netflix true-crime docu-series "The Staircase," in which a suspected murderer could have been exonerated for the death of his wife through a speculated "Owl Theory."
Answer: Ornithology
22. The Ameraucana and Araucana breeds of which barnyard bird lay blue eggs?
Answer: Chickens
23. What "small" Disney animated film of 2005, with Zach Braff as the voice of the title farm bird, features a noisy antagonist named Goosey Loosey?
Answer: Chicken Little
24. What double-Z word means the muscular enlargement in a bird's digestive tract that grinds food, often with the help of stones the bird has swallowed?
Answer: Gizzard
25. The official state bird of Ohio is also the state bird of six other states. What is this commonly chosen flyer?
Answer: Cardinal
26. What type of bird is the subject of a discussion between King Arthur and the bridge-keeper in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"? Both African and European varieties of the bird were mentioned repeatedly. The bird shares its name with a physical act performed in part by the medulla oblongata in humans.
Answer: Swallow
27. Sung by Julie Andrews, "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)" is a song from what classic Disney movie musical of 1964?
Answer: Mary Poppins
28. What bird, that is also the patron animal of the Greek god Zeus, is depicted as a double-headed creature on the official national flag of Albania?
Answer: Eagle
29. The stage in a young owl's life between hatching and leaving the nest goes by what totally acceptable F-word?
Answer: Fledgling
30. Not related to Gandalf, the tallest North American owl is a "Great" owl named for what color of its plumage?
Answer: Grey
31. A scissor-tailed flycatcher and the year 1907, the year in which it became a state, appear on the quarter coin that commemorates what panhandled U.S. state?
Answer: Oklahoma
32. Hoots the Owl is a jazzy saxophone-playing bird on what alliteratively named kids' TV show?
Answer: Sesame Street
33. Blu is a brilliantly colored Spix's Macaw who doesn't know how to fly because he's been raised in a cage in Minnesota, in what 2011 animated movie?
Answer: Rio
34. What is the common name for the avian species Haliaeetus leucocephalus? Though the common name contains a misnomer, this bird remains one of the most famous in the world's largest economy.
Answer: Bald Eagle
35. What Disney princess sings the song "Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" while she's scrubbing floors for her stepmother and stepsisters?
Answer: Cinderella
36. In 1987, what white bird was chosen as Quebec's official avian emblem, representing the province's winters and northern climate?
Answer: Snowy Owl
37. What white bird, associated with bringing peace and even new babies to a household, is the national animal of Lithuania?
Answer: Stork
38. What five-letter word follows “hyacinth” in the name of the world’s heaviest species of flying parrot? The kakapo is the heaviest parrot species but is flightless.
Answer: Macaw
39. The Selvatura Adventure Park, located in Monteverde, Costa Rica, has specialized gardens for butterflies and what "H" birds that are small, eat nectar, and fly incredibly fast?
Answer: Hummingbirds
40. Now known by its Maori name, which common New Zealand native was called "the parson bird" by earlier settlers?
Answer: Tui
41. Which bright-red bird is the mascot for the University of Louisville’s NCAA sports teams?
Answer: Cardinal
42. Birds have been found to use discarded “butts” of which type of nicotine product in their nests as a deterrent to predators?
Answer: Cigarettes
43. When speaking in English, the name of this animal shares its name with a country. In French and Russian, the animal has a name meaning "from India" or "bird of India." And in Portuguese, the animal is named "peru," deriving from the eponymous country. What is this confusingly named animal?
Answer: Turkey
44. Blathers is the name of the nocturnal, museum-curating owl in what series of Nintendo video games?
Answer: Animal Crossing
45. The elephant bird, which became extinct in the second millennium AD, was a very large flightless bird native to which island in the Indian Ocean?
Answer: Madagascar
46. A synonym for a whip used by a horse rider, what body part on a goose is a muscular pouch located on the front of the bird's neck?
Answer: Crop
47. Kathryn Lasky’s "Guardians of Ga’Hoole" book series is over 30 deep, chronicling the adventures of what type of birds?
Answer: Owls
48. Since they don't have lips to blow on them, Bassian thrushes draw worms out via moving leaves with what kind of expulsion?
Answer: Farts
49. "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap" is a quote from the King James Bible. Who was the speaker of the quote?
Answer: Jesus
50. According to official Sesame Street canon, what kind of bird is Big Bird?
Answer: Canary
51. “Ten Million Puffins Can’t Be Wrong” is the verdict on souvenirs from the Westman Islands, an archipelago off the coast of what Atlantic island country?
Answer: Iceland
52. Technically North America's most common species in the Columbidae family, this bird was named for the sad cooing notes it makes. What is the name of this bird that sounds like it should be attending a funeral 24/7?
Answer: Mourning dove
53. Remiges and retrices are both names for what body part of an owl?
Answer: Feathers
54. Group names for animals are a common trivia fact since they can be so…peculiar. There's a cackle of hyenas, a pandemonium of parrots, and a conspiracy of lemurs. What is the legislative name for a group of owls?
Answer: Parliament
55. In 1984, the mute variety of what waterfowl became the national bird of Denmark?
Answer: Swan
56. British publisher Penguin Books chose what name, which also references a seabird, for its children's paperback imprint?
Answer: Puffin Books
57. What colorful chicken variety is both the state bird of Delaware and the name of the University of Delaware's sports teams?
Answer: Blue Hen
58. What “C” genus is of a large flightless bird, the largest species of which is only smaller than the ostrich and the emu, that is found in the tropical forests of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia? These birds are dangerous because they can kick powerfully with their sharp claws.
Answer: Cassowary
59. The African grey variety of what tropical bird will selflessly help each other find food?
Answer: Parrot
60. San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California, is famous for the annual return of large groups of what birds from their migration to Argentina?
Answer: Swallows
61. Altamira, Bullock's, Scott's, Audubon's, and the Spot-breasted are all specific species of what type of bird, the official state bird of Maryland?
Answer: Oriole
62. Which bird species has the scientific name pica pica? The eating disorder pica, the consumption of inedible objects, also gets its name from this bird's large and indiscriminate appetite.
Answer: Magpie
63. In the biblical story of the great flood, Noah sent out two birds of different types from the Ark post-flood. Which two types of birds were they?
Answer: Dove and Raven
64. Toolka is the indigenous Wemba Wemba name of the Cape Barren goose in the southern portion of what very southern island nation?
Answer: Australia
65. The official state bird of Georgia was the mascot for what Atlanta NHL hockey team that played from 1999 until 2011?
Answer: Thrashers
66. With a tune well known to speakers of other languages, what French children's song about plucking the feathers of a lark may have come to the U.S. from soldiers who served in Europe during World War I?
Answer: Alouette
67. First described in 1801 and noted for its relatively small size, the Southern Boobook owl is native to which continent?
Answer: Australia
68. What tube-like organ (generally more ball-shaped in a human) makes up one to five percent of an owl's body weight, depending on species?
Answer: Eye
69. A Dutch painting of the titular bird is saved from an art museum bombing by a 13-year-old boy in what 2013 Donna Tartt novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction?
Answer: The Goldfinch
70. The terms wake, kettle, and committee all refer to a group of what type of bird?
Answer: Vultures
71. Which flightless bird, native to South America, is named after a Greek Titan? The second largest moon of Saturn is also named after this Titan.
Answer: Rhea
72. The capercaillie and the ptarmigan are members of which group of birds commonly hunted as game?
Answer: Grouse
73. Debuting in 2016, what school, with Houses named Horned Serpent, Wampus, Pukwudgie, and Thunderbird, is the American equivalent of Hogwarts?
Answer: Ilvermorny
74. What 9-letter P-word is an adjective that describes birds whose feet can be used to perch on a branch, such as sparrows and crows?
Answer: Passerine
75. The Loriini arboreal parrots branch out into two different groups, the Lories and what other bird species, which can come in rainbow colors?
Answer: Lorikeet
76. The titular bird tries to learn everything he can about flying and gets kicked out of his flock for being too different, in what 1970 novella by Richard Bach?
Answer: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
77. Released in 2019, what board game by Elizabeth Hargrave, whose goal is to populate a wildlife refuge with a flourishing array of birds, exploded in popularity during the lockdowns of 2020?
Answer: Wingspan
78. "The Treetops Tattler" was a newspaper staffed by birds in what long-running newspaper comic by Jeff MacNelly?
Answer: Shoe
79. Although humans and owls typically live in relatively close quarters harmoniously, there are instances of owls attacking humans, such as photographer Eric Hosking losing an eye. Hosking later titled his 1970 autobiography "An Eye for a Bird." What type of orange-brown owl attacked him?
Answer: Tawny owl
80. What “j” is a large stork native to the Americas with mainly white plumage and a broad, red band at the base of the neck?
Answer: Jabiru
81. Although owls aren't the only zygodactyl birds, they are the only ones that can pivot the body part that zygodactyl describes. What is this body part?
Answer: Toes
82. As with other birds, an owl’s feathers are nourished as they grow by a blood supply to the feather sheaths. What term is used to describe feathers that are still developing inside the sheaths?
Answer: Pin feathers
Water Cooler Trivia is well-equipped to provide you with exciting and engaging trivia quizzes.
So, how does it work?
Each week, our team will deliver original trivia quizzes straight to your inbox.
All you have to do is pick the categories.
You can leave the rest of the heavy lifting to us.
Take Water Cooler Trivia for a test run with our four-week free trial.
We do everything we can to ensure that Water Cooler Trivia's questions are appropriate, relevant, and accurate. Our database has tens of thousands of questions, so we don't always get it right. If you see a question that needs editing, we would love if you let us know here or email quizmaster@watercoolertrivia.com.
.png)