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

3. 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

4. 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 GBHMale GBH

5. 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

6. 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 Male Female

7. 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 MaleFemale

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Red-Headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus Song: Listen 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

13. 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 PheasantFemale Pheasant

14. 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

15. Aquatic Birds Prairie: Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) Commonalities: Long Neck Eat Found Not sexually dimorphic Coniferous Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) Differences: Black/White Colors Whistle/Honk

16. Ground Nesting Birds Female Prairie Chicken Male Prairie ChickenMale Wild TurkeyMale Spruce Grouse Female Wild TurkeyFemale Spruce Grouse

17. 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”

18. 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 & 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”

19. Works Cited: http://www.minnesotacabinandlandrentals.com/pa ges/recreational_land.html http://www.minnesotacabinandlandrentals.com/pa ges/recreational_land.html http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/N GS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/co mmon-loon.jpg http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/N GS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/co mmon-loon.jpg http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&An imalAudioID=345 http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&An imalAudioID=345 http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/Bird- sounds.htm http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/Bird- sounds.htm http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accou nts/information/Aves.html http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accou nts/information/Aves.html www.reference.com