Birds of Spain

Question 1

Large, gull-like tern.
Black cap.
Body white.
Massive, thick, and brilliant red with dark tip.

Answer 1

Caspian Tern

Question 2

In Europe, this species inhabits broad river valleys, pasture and cultivated land with shelter-belts and scattered trees; sunny hillsides, meadows, clover fields, plains, dissected steppe, shrubby riverbanks in semi-desert, and practically any open and well-timbered country, such as cork-oak woods, olive groves, tamarisks, rice fields, cereal and root crops, and Mediterranean macchia scrub.

It feeds on flying insects, primarily Hymenoptera, and it hunts from perches.

Answer 2

European Bee-eater

Question 3

a wading bird

all white except for its dark legs, black bill with a yellow tip, and a yellow breast patch like a pelican. It has a crest in the breeding season.

Answer 3

Eurasian Spoonbill

Question 4

Has a particularly graceful flight, with powerful and elegant wingbeats which give an impression of buoyancy and ease. it searches the countryside, flying low, and generally holds its wings with a marked positive dihedral.

a deceptively small raptor, though it appears larger because of its large wing surface compared to small body weight, which gives it a typically buoyant flight.

requires a large open area. It favours posts on which both male and female can rest: these can be fenceposts, small trees, or rocky outcrops. When hunting, in any season, it prefers areas of low or sparse vegetation where prey is more visible.

Answer 4

Montagu’s Harrier

Question 5

the largest shanks apart from the willet, which is altogether more robustly built.

are distinguished by the shape of the lower bill which gives it an upturned appearance to the bill. They have long greenish legs and a long bill with a grey base. They show a white wedge on the back in flight. They

Answer 5

Common Greenshank

Question 6

has an unfeathered red face and head, and a long, curved red bill. It breeds colonially on coastal or mountain cliff ledges and feeds on lizards, insects, and other small animals.

It disappeared from Europe over 300 years ago, and is now considered critically endangered.

Answer 6

Northern Bald Ibis

Question 7

is a large gull.

is a specialist fish eater. This bird will feed at night, often well out to sea, but also slowly patrols close into beaches, occasionally dangling its legs to increase drag.

short stubby red bill and “string of pearls” white wing primary tips, rather than the large “mirrors” of some other species. The legs are grey-green.

Answer 7

Audouin’s Gull

Question 8

It is a white bird with a slender black beak, long black legs and, in the western race, yellow feet. As an aquatic bird, it feeds in shallow water and on land, consuming a variety of small creatures. It breeds colonially.

sociable birds and are often seen in small flocks. They use a variety of methods to procure their food; they stalk their prey in shallow water, often running with raised wings or shuffling their feet to disturb small fish, or may stand still and wait to ambush prey.

Answer 8

Little Egret

Question 9

A starling-sized bird with a long slim bill. The breeding male has all blue-grey plumage apart from its darker wings. Females and immatures are much less striking, with dark brown upperparts, and paler brown scaly underparts. The male has rufous-chestnut plumage from the mid-breast down to the undertail.

Answer 9

Blue Rock Thrush

Question 10

often stands upright. It runs while foraging and probing into the soil. It digs with the bill to find some larvae, and also uses it to break the frozen snow during winter. It also may hover to catch insects from bushes.

When alarmed, it crouches briefly.
When taking off, it starts to sing while rising in the air by circling, and when it reached some height, it soars and circles during several minutes over its territory, descending until about 80-100 metres from the ground, and then, goes into a dive to the ground.

Answer 10

Calandra Lark

Question 11

a Eurasian wader

in breeding plumage are a marbled brown color, slightly lighter below.

They have red legs and a black-tipped red bill, and show white up the back and on the wings in flight.

Answer 11

Common Redshank

Question 12

named for its voice, which is said to sound like pebbles clicked together.

It is a ground nester, of flycatcher-like habits, found in overgrown pastures and coastal wastelands.

Answer 12

European Stonechat

Question 13

brown above and buff below, with chestnut wing patches and a white throat.

Adult males have a grey head and the white eye ring which gives the species its name.

found in dry open country with bushes

Answer 13

Spectacled Warbler

Question 14

a very small wader

Its small size, fine dark bill, dark legs and quicker movements distinguish this species from all waders except the other dark-legged stints. It can be distinguished from these in all plumages by its combination of a fine bill tip, unwebbed toes and long primary projection.

Answer 14

Little Stint

Question 15

Medium-sized tern. Long, thin black bill with pale yellow tip. Body white. Back pale gray. Elongated feathers on back of head make a slight shaggy crest. Black cap when breeding. Pale forehead in winter. Legs black.

Answer 15

Sandwich Tern

Question 16

Medium-sized woodpecker endemic to the Iberian peninsula.

Answer 16

Iberian Green Woodpecker

Question 17

a species found almost exclusively in reed beds, usually with some bushes.

Answer 17

Eurasian Reed Warbler

Question 18

confined to the Iberian Peninsula, northwest Africa, southernmost France, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. It is largely non-migratory

has darker, oily-looking black plumage, slightly purple- or green-glossed in bright light, which is entirely spotless in spring and summer.

It also differs in having conspicuously longer throat feathers, forming a shaggy “beard” which is particularly obvious when the bird is singing. Its legs are bright pink. In summer, the bill is yellow with a bluish base in males and a pinkish base in females

Answer 18

Spotless Starling

Question 19

It is strongly migratory, feeds by plunge-diving for fish, usually from saline environments. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.

Its thin sharp bill is yellow with a black tip and its legs are also yellow. In winter, the forehead is more extensively white, the bill is black and the legs duller.

Answer 19

Little Tern

Question 20

a small gull. The black hood extends down the nape and shows distinct white eye crescents. The blunt tipped, parallel sided, dark red bill has a black subterminal band

Answer 20

Mediterranean Gull

Question 21

Large brownish shearwater with mostly white underparts and rather large pale bill. Grey-brown cap to below.

Answer 21

Scopoli’s Shearwater

Question 22

This small shorebird is very much like the Semipalmated Plover, and replaces it in Europe and Asia.

These birds forage for food on beaches, tidal flats and fields, usually by sight. They eat insects, crustaceans and worms.

Answer 22

Little Ringed Plover

Question 23

It is a wader. The name lapwing has been variously attributed to the “lapping” sound its wings make in flight, from the irregular progress in flight due to its large wings. The typical contact call is a loud, shrill “pee-wit” from which they get their other name of peewit

Answer 23

Northern Lapwing

Question 24

feeds mainly on rabbits, but can prey on many other animals, such as partridges, rodents, hares, pigeons, crows, ducks, foxes.

The species is classified as Vulnerable

Answer 24

Spanish Imperial Eagle

Question 25

Despite being classed as a wader, this species prefers dry open habitats with some bare ground. It is largely nocturnal, particularly when singing its loud wailing songs, which are reminiscent of that of curlews. Food consists of insects and other small invertebrates, and occasionally small reptiles, frogs and rodents. It lays 2–3 eggs in a narrow scrape in the ground.

Answer 25

European Stone-curlew

Question 26

The adult male has a grey back, whitish underparts, black head, white throat and red eyes. The female is mainly brown above and buff below, with a grey head. The song is fast and rattling.

Answer 26

Sardinian Warbler

Question 27

known in North America as the eared grebe. uses multiple foraging techniques. Insects, which make up the majority of this bird's diet, are caught either on the surface of the water or when they are in flight. It occasionally practices foliage gleaning. This grebe dives to catch crustaceans, molluscs, tadpoles, and small frogs and fish.

Answer 27

Black-necked Grebe

Question 28

a small passerine bird in the swallow family. ash-brown upperparts and paler underparts, and a short, square tail that has distinctive white patches on most of its feathers. builds a nest adherent to the rock under a cliff overhang or increasingly onto a man-made structure.

Answer 28

Eurasian Crag Martin

Question 29

This is a smallish lark, slightly smaller than the Eurasian skylark. It has a long, spiky, erectile crest. It is greyer and lacks the white wing and tail edge of that species. In flight it shows grey underwings. The body is mainly dark-streaked grey above and whitish below. Its typical habitat is rugged areas with scrub, bare patches of ground and semi-arid grassland. Its food is weed, seeds and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season

Answer 29

Thekla Lark

Question 30

large gull which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species yellow legs, grey back, slightly darker than herring gulls but lighter than lesser black-backed gulls. They have a red spot on the bill. There is a red ring around the eye.

Answer 30

Yellow-legged Gull

Question 31

A passerine bird in the crow family. It is gregarious and vocal, living in small groups with a complex social structure in farmland, open woodland, on coastal cliffs, and in urban settings. intelligent birds, and have been observed using tools. An omnivorous and opportunistic feeder, it eats a wide variety of plant material and invertebrates, as well as food waste from urban areas.

Answer 31

Western Jackdaw

Question 32

the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa.

Answer 32

Eurasian Wren

Question 33

This is an unusual bunting because the plumages of the sexes are similar in appearance. The song of the male is a repetitive metallic sound, usually likened to jangling keys, which is given from a low bush, fence post or telephone wires.

Answer 33

Corn Bunting

Question 34

generally found in or near inland water. Their breeding habitat is freshwater marshes. do not dive for fish, but forage on the wing picking up items at or near the water's surface or catching insects in flight. They mainly eat insects and fish as well as amphibians.

Answer 34

Black Tern

Question 35

known as the black-bellied plover in North America

Answer 35

Grey Plover

Question 36

inhabit broadleaf woodlands, valleys and wetland edges elegant bird, soaring on long wings held at a dihedral, and long forked tail, twisting as it changes direction. The body, upper tail and wing coverts are rufous. The white primary flight feathers contrast with the black wing tips and dark secondaries.

Answer 36

Red Kite

Question 37

a small stiff-tailed diving duck The male has a white head with black crown, a blue bill, and reddish-grey plumage. The female has a dark bill and rather duller colouring.

Answer 37

White-headed Duck

Question 38

is a small wader in the plover family of birds. also as an insult for someone considered simple or a dotard.

Answer 38

Eurasian Dotterel

Question 39

a large seabird a streaked greyish brown, with a black cap, while juveniles are a warmer brown and unstreaked below. They have a short, blunt tail, and a powerful flight.

Answer 39

Great Skua

Question 40

very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground. Spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks. They drink on the wing. It is entirely dark except for a large white throat patch which is frequently visible from a distance.

Answer 40

Pallid Swift

Question 41

found in hilly or mountainous habitats, with rocky walls or crags and open to wooded land, in arid to semi-moist climate.

Answer 41

Bonelli Eagle

Question 42

resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, seeds, blue-green algae, microscopic organisms, and mollusks

Answer 42

Greater Flamingo

Question 43

it is strongly associated with wetland areas, especially those rich in common reed. gliding low over flat open ground on its search for prey, with its wings held in a shallow V-shape and often with dangling legs.

Answer 43

Western Marsh Harrier

Question 44

widespread and common resident breeder in coniferous forests erectile crest, the tip of which is often recurved, its gorget and collar are distinctive. It is, like other tits, talkative, and birds keep up a constant zee, zee, zee

Answer 44

European Crested Tit

Question 45

a small, stocky wader short greenish-grey legs and a very long straight dark bill. The body is mottled brown with straw-yellow stripes on top and pale underneath. They have a dark stripe through the eye, with light stripes above and below it. The wings are pointed

Answer 45

Common Snipe

Question 46

unusual among waders in that they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground.

Answer 46

Collared Pratincole

Question 47

a small wader having a longer down-curved bill, longer neck and legs and a white rump. The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts.

Answer 47

Curlew Sandpiper

Question 48

habitat is open grassland and undisturbed cultivation, with plants tall enough for cover. It has a stately slow walk, and tends to run when disturbed rather than fly. It is gregarious, especially in winter. This species is omnivorous, taking seeds, insects, rodents and reptiles. The male has a flamboyant display with foot stamping and leaping in the air.

Answer 48

Little Bustard

Question 49

Commonly forages from a perch up to three metres above the ground, flying down to the ground to catch prey, sallying out from the perch to catch insects in flight, or bounding over the ground to grab prey. In addition to feeding on a range of insects and other invertebrates, will also eat berries and seeds

Answer 49

Black-eared Wheatear

Question 50

is a small plover. Adults have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes with white above and a short dark bill. The legs are flesh-coloured and the toes are all webbed.

Answer 50

Little Ringed Plover

Question 51

a gregarious bird, eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water. the wings are long and broad enabling the bird to soar Main sound is noisy bill-clattering, which has been likened to distant machine gun fire.

Answer 51

White Stork

Question 52

bill is fairly short and thin, with a slightly downcurving upper mandible. The bill, legs, and feet are black and the eye is dark brown with a dark eye-ring, which is not readily visible.

Answer 52

Common Bulbul

Question 53

a species of leaf warbler endemic to Portugal, Spain and North Africa

Answer 53

Iberian Chiffchaff

Question 54

a shy and wary species. It is seen singly or in pairs, usually in marshy areas, rivers or inland waters. It feeds on amphibians, small fish and insects, generally wading slowly in shallow water stalking its prey. Breeding pairs usually build nests in large forest trees—most commonly deciduous but also coniferous—which can be seen from long distances, as well as on large boulders, or under overhanging ledges in mountainous areas.

Answer 54

Black Stork

Question 55

Common fantail warbler They occur in grasslands, thorny scrub, and marshes, most numerously in Africa but also across southern Eurasia to Australia. Some are called cloud-scrapers, from the male’s towering courtship-flight. Notoriously difficult to identify; some species may be distinguished only by the configuration of wing feathers.

Answer 55

Zitting Cisticola

Question 56

a medium-sized shearwater This bird looks like a flying cross, with its wing held at right angles to the body, and it changes from dark brown to dirty white as the dark upperparts and paler undersides are alternately exposed as it travels low over the sea. considered critically endangered

Answer 56

Balearic Shearwater

Question 57

a small wader. a short fine bill, brown back and longer yellowish legs. has a smaller and less contrasting white rump patch

Answer 57

Wood Sandpiper

Question 58

Seabird that is native to the Atlantic Ocean, breeding on the Western Europe and North America. mainly white streamlined body with long neck and long pointed bill

Answer 58

Northern Gannet

Question 59

a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds a long-necked, pot-bellied bird. male has breeding plumage that includes brightly coloured head tufts, bare orange facial skin, extensive black on the breast, and the large collar of ornamental feathers

Answer 59

Ruff

Question 60

a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey-brown winter coloration, and distinctive black and white wingbar at all times.

Answer 60

Black-tailed Godwit

Question 61

a small falcon a brown back and barred grey underparts. a grey head and tail, but lacks the dark spotting on the back, the black malar stripe, and has grey patches in the wings

Answer 61

Lesser Kestral

Question 62

Somewhat similar in habits and appearance to the other aerial insectivores. They are fast fliers and they swoop on insects while airborne. They have broad but pointed wings. These swallows are usually found over grassland where they hawk insects. They may sometimes take advantage of grass fires and grazing cattle that flush insects into the air

Answer 62

Red-rumped Swallow

Question 63

a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. It breeds in most of temperate Europe and northwestern Africa, and is partially migratory, with birds from central Europe wintering to the south and west of their breeding range. In winter, joins loose flocks of other wanderers such as tits and warblers

Answer 63

Common Firecrest

Question 64

This bird is one of the most common waders throughout its breeding and wintering ranges. moves along the coastal mudflat beaches with a characteristic "sewing machine" feeding action, methodically picking small food items.

Answer 64

Dunlin

Question 65

This is a bird of dry open country, often on hill slopes, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or gorse, and 3–5 eggs are laid. This small warbler feeds on a variety of small insects and their larvae, and berries. It forages by actively moving through dense vegetation and picking prey off of leaves and stems with its bill.

Answer 65

Subalpine Warbler

Question 66

A long-legged predatory wading bird of the heron family. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows.

Answer 66

Grey Heron

Question 67

Rather small, pale and greyish brown, strong and pointed bill, clean white breast, rufous-tinged crown, dark patch on breat side, below cheek. Breeds in open, dry areas, on cultivated fields or more arid plains.

Answer 67

Greater Short-toed Lark

Question 68

It derives its scientific name from its fondness for hemp and its English name from its liking for seeds of flax, from which linen is made. Open land with thick bushes is favoured for breeding, including heathland and garden. The bird was a popular pet in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Answer 68

Common Linnet

Question 69

most numerous in Spain where it is fairly common. predominantly white underside, the upper parts being grayish brown. The tail has 3 or 4 bars. an owl-like rounded head, brightly yellow eyes and lightly barred under wing. generally very silent. Its prey is mostly reptiles, mainly snakes, but also some lizards. It favors soaring over hill slopes and hilltops on updrafts, and it does much of its hunting from this position at heights. it frequently hovers like a kestrel. When it soars it does so on flattish wings.

Answer 69

Short-toed Eagle

Question 70

About half of this gull's food is fish. It flies a few metres above the surface of the water and dives into the water when it sees suitable prey. It also probes in the mud with its beak and feeds on marine invertebrates. It also catches insects in flight. It is not a pelagic species, and is rarely seen far from land. This rather uncommon gull breeds in colonies, nesting on the ground and laying up to three brown-spotted white eggs in a scrape sparsely lined with feathers and bits of vegetation

Answer 70

Slender-billed Gull

Question 71

a large bird Flight is slow, with the neck retracted and the legs extending a long way behind the tail. It is a secretive bird, tending to skulk in reed beds. Its long toes mean it can walk on floating vegetation, and it sometimes walks over bushes in the same way. It seldom perches in trees, preferring more terrestrial sites to rest. It is most active at dawn and dusk, roosting with other birds in the middle of the day and at night, but increasing its diurnal activity while rearing young.

Answer 71

Purple Heron

Question 72

a small shorebird. black bills and dark legs. During the breeding season, males have a black horizontal head bar, two incomplete dark breast-bands on each side of their breast, black ear coverts and a rufous nape and crown, whereas the females are paler in these areas, without the dark markings

Answer 72

Kentish Plover

Question 73

Medium to large gull. Head and underparts white. Back dark gray. Wingtips black with some white spots. Bill yellow with red spot near tip of lower mandible. Legs yellow

Answer 73

Lesser Black-backed Gull