Birds

Diabolical Female Waterfowl Quiz

January 12, 2008 by Corey 11 Comments

If previous incarnations of the Diabolical ID Quiz left you scratching your head this one might leave you wanting to cut it right off your shoulders.  Female waterfowl, also called hens, are usually drab colors, the better to hide themselves when they are incubating their eggs.  They are still beautiful, but in muted tones that nicely compliment their gaudy mates.  This drabness makes them a bit trickier to identify when you only have a portion of the bird to work with which is why this quiz might leave you wanting to burn your field guides and give up birding for good.  Please feel free to guess wildly, even if you aren’t really sure: even the “experts” will, I’m sure, have a hard time with this quiz.

As with previous quizzes guess in the comments and please indicate to which pictures you are applying your guesses.  Also, make sure you use the full common names of the birds (example: if you think picture number two is a teal be specific and write “Picture #2 is a Green-winged Teal“).  Good luck and good guessing!

Diabolical Female Waterfowl Quiz Picture Number 1

ID Quiz 1

Diabolical Female Waterfowl Quiz Picture Number 2

ID Quiz 2

Diabolical Female Waterfowl Quiz Picture Number 3

ID Quiz 3

Diabolical Female Waterfowl Quiz Picture Number 4

ID Quiz 4

Diabolical Female Waterfowl Quiz Picture Number 5

ID Quiz 5

I won’t be checking up on answers until at least Monday morning so guess away for the weekend!

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.