Birds of Minnesota

Birds of Minnesota

By: Alan Thompson and Anastasia Nereson

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

Great Blue HeronArdea 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

Canada GooseBranta 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

MallardAnas 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

MaleFemale

Wood DuckAix 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

Red-Tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis

Song: Common Food Sources: Small/medium sized

mammals, birds, Interesting information:-North American population

is increasing-Common raptors-Mostly monogamous

OspreyPandion haliaetus

Song: Common Food Sources: Different types of fishInteresting information:-Dive feet first for prey-Only North American

raptor that eats almost only fish

Bald EagleHaliaeetus 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

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

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

Ring-Necked Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 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

Male Pheasant Female Pheasant

WARBLERS

Coniferous Black-throated blue warbler (Dendroica caerulescens)Commonalities:Eat insects and spiders (food source)Found mainly in the northeastern U.S.Sexually dimorphic

Deciduous Hooded Warbler  (Wilsonia citrina) 

Differences: Yellow/Dark Blue Hooded population is

common and increasing in some areas

Blue population is stable

Aquatic Birds

Prairie: Western Grebe (Aechmophorus

occidentalis)Commonalities:Long NeckEatFoundNot sexually

dimorphic

Coniferous Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) Differences: Black/White Colors Whistle/Honk Weight: 800-180 g (Grebe) Weight: Weight: 7700-

12700 g

Ground Nesting Birds

Female Prairie Chicken

Male Prairie ChickenMale Wild TurkeyMale Spruce Grouse

Female Wild TurkeyFemale Spruce Grouse

Ground Nesting Birds 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

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”

MN state bird: Common Loon Description of a basic adult: Pale gray bill Gray-brown cap, forehead,

nape, and back White face, eye ring, chin,

throat, foreneck and belly

Identification Tips: Length: 24 inches Wingspan: 58 inches Sexes similar Large diving bird, large bill Feet set far back on body

Found in northern MN, Alaska & CanadaLead and Mercury poisoning are significant causes of deathAfter molting its wing feathers in winter, the loon is flightless Also known as the “Great Northern Diver”

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