Birds of Minnesota

1. Birds of Minnesota By: Alan Thompson and Anastasia Nereson

2. Common Loon Gavia immer • Song: • Common Food Sources: salt and fresh water fish, such as: pike, trout, bass, and herring • Interesting information: • -MN state bird • -dive up to 200 feet underwater to fish • -heavy bones and eyes that focus both in air and water adapt for diving

3. Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias • Song: • Common Food Sources: • mostly fish, but also: frogs, • snakes, birds, small mammals, • crayfish, dragonflies • Interesting information: • -Length: 38 inches • -Wingspan: 70 inches • -Long neck, legs • -Holds neck in an "S" curve at • rest and in flight • -Swallow their food whole, choke on • too large of prey Female GBH Male GBH

4. Canada Goose Branta canadensis • Song: • Common Food Sources: • Interesting information: • -Some migratory populations don’t go as far south as they previously did • -Large water bird • -Has a white chinstrap

5. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos • Song: • Common Food Sources: Insects, larvae, aquatic invertebrates, seeds, aquatic vegetation, grain • Interesting information: • -Ancestor of nearly all domestic duck breeds • -Mostly monogamous • -Sexually dimorphic • -Female incubates and cares for eggs Female Male

6. Wood Duck Aix sponsa • Song: • Common Food Sources: • vegetation, insects, snails, • tadpoles, and salamanders • Interesting information: • -Forages while swimming • -Females lay 9-15 eggs • -Preferred habitats include • wooded swamps and • freshwater marshes Male Female

7. Red-Tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis • Song: • Common Food Sources: • Small/medium sized mammals, birds, • Interesting information: • -North American population is increasing • -Common raptors • -Mostly monogamous

8. Osprey Pandion haliaetus • Song: • Common Food Sources: • Different types of fish • Interesting information: • -Dive feet first for prey • -Only North American raptor that eats almost only fish

9. Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus • Song: • Common Food Sources: • fish, ducks, muskrats, • turtles, rabbits, and snakes • Interesting information: • -most commonly found in Alaska • -open water is a necessity for eagles • -adopted as national bird in 1782

10. American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos • Song: • Common Food Sources: • Interesting information: • -Most victimized by West Nile virus • -Wingspan is 85-100 cm • -14 years, 7 months is the oldest recorded age of a wild crow

11. Red-Headed WoodpeckerMelanerpes erythrocephalus • Song: Listen • Common Food Sources: Beech and oak mast, • seeds,nuts, berries, fruit, insects, bird eggs, • nestlings, mice. • Interesting information: • -One of four woodpeckers that stores food • -Only one known to cover the stored food with • wood or bark • -Attacks other birds to keep them out of its territory • -Known to remove the eggs of other species • from nests, destroy nests, and puncture duck • -Most omnivorous woodpecker

12. Ring-Necked Pheasant Phasianus colchicus Male Pheasant Female Pheasant • Song: • Common Food Sources: • Seeds, grain, grasses, leaves, roots, nuts, insects • Interesting information: • -Males are brightly colored, • -Female smaller and cryptically colored • -One male keeps other males away from group of females breeding season • - Long tail, which is often held cocked up at an angle

13. WARBLERS • Deciduous • Hooded Warbler  • (Wilsonia citrina) • Coniferous • Black-throated blue warbler • (Dendroica caerulescens) • Differences: • Yellow/Dark Blue • Hooded population is common and increasing in some areas • Blue population is stable • Commonalities: • Eat insects and spiders (food source) • Found mainly in the northeastern U.S. • Sexually dimorphic

14. Aquatic Birds • Coniferous • Trumpeter Swan • (Cygnus buccinator) • Differences: • Black/White Colors • Whistle/Honk • Weight: 800-180 g (Grebe) • Weight: Weight: 7700-12700 g • Prairie: • Western Grebe • (Aechmophorus occidentalis) • Commonalities: • Long Neck • Eat • Found • Not sexually dimorphic

15. Ground Nesting Birds Male Spruce Grouse Male Wild Turkey Male Prairie Chicken Female Spruce Grouse Female Wild Turkey Female Prairie Chicken

16. Ground Nesting Birds • Deciduous: • Wild Turkey • (Meleagris gallopavo) • Food: buds, grasses, grain, berries, insects, frogs and snakes • Weighs 2500-10,800 g • Sexually dimorphic • Lost by one vote in 1782 to become national bird • Prairie: • Greater Prairie-chicken • (Tympanuchus cupido) • Food: plants & insects • Weighs 700-1200 g • Sexually dimorphic • Very rare and near-extinct due to habitat loss • Do not migrate • Male ritual of “booming” • Coniferous • Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) • Food: spruce needles and buds • Weighs 400-650 g • Sexually dipmorphic • Found in northern MN only • Generally quiet • Olive eggs with variable spots

17. MN state bird: Common Loon • Identification Tips: • Length: 24 inches • Wingspan: 58 inches • Sexes similar • Large diving bird, large bill • Feet set far back on body • Description of a basic adult: • Pale gray bill • Gray-brown cap, forehead, nape, and back • White face, eye ring, chin, throat, foreneck and belly • Found in northern MN, Alaska & Canada • Lead and Mercury poisoning are significant causes of death • After molting its wing feathers in winter, the loon is flightless • Also known as the “Great Northern Diver”

18. Works Cited: • http://www.minnesotacabinandlandrentals.com/pages/recreational_land.html • http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/common-loon.jpg • http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&AnimalAudioID=345 • http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/Bird-sounds.htm • http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Aves.html • www.reference.com