Birds of Minnesota

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Birds of Minnesota

• By Alan Thompson and Anastasia Nereson

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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

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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
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Canada Goose Branta canadensis

• Song
• Common Food Sources
• Interesting information
• -Some migratory populations dont go as far south
  as they previously did
• -Large water bird
• -Has a white chinstrap

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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
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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
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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
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Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo

• Sound
• Common food sources seeds and insects
• Interesting facts turkeys are ground-dwelling
  birds, have extremely powerful legs, bare heads
  and necks, have slightly down-curved bill, tips
  of tail are chesnut-brown in the East and white
  in the Southwest.

Male
Female
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American Robin Turdus migratorius

• Sound
• Common food sources berries, nuts, flower
  nectar, tree sap, dead animals, seeds, insects,
  worms.
• Interesting facts have dark grey back with dark
  stripes on a white throat, largest thrush in
  North America (adults about 9-10 inches), nest in
  open woodlands and grasslands.

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Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis

• Sound
• Common food sources insects, other
  invertebrates, grasshoppers, beetles, worms,
  fruits like blackberries, honeysuckle, snails.
• Interesting facts general habitat applies to
  hardwoods and grasslands, small thrush,
  medium-sized body, usually have more than one
  successful brood a year.

Male
Female
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Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

• Sound
• Common food sources sunflower and safflower
  seeds, fruits, insects.
• Interesting facts the large, conical beaks are
  ideal for the Northern Cardinal in order to crack
  open the seeds they eat, often in family units
  versus flocks, Northern Cardinal couples are
  monogamous, females lay two to three eggs each
  times they give birth.

Female
Male
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American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis

• Sound
• Common food sources grains, small seeds,
  thistles, sunflower seeds and lettuce.
• Interesting facts American Goldfinch species is
  abundant, they are popular birds that can be
  tamed and kept in a cage, usually reside in
  shrubby places, old fields, parks and gardens.

Male
Female
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Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata

• Sound
• Common food sources fruits, nuts, seeds,
  insects, mice, frogs, and they often steal food
  from other animals.
• Interesting facts the Blue Jays eating habits
  help plants disperse their seeds, these birds use
  body-fluff bobbing motions with their bodies
  when fighting to intimidate other birds, pairs
  form monogamous bonds that usually last until one
  of the birds dies.

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Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

• Sound
• Common food sources flies, crickets,
  grasshoppers, beetles, and dragonflies.
• Interesting facts Barn Swallows are native in
  all biogeographic regions except Antarctica and
  Australia, incredibly adaptable birds as far as
  habitat goes, they fly over open areas when
  migrating, they weigh anywhere between 17 and 20
  grams.

Female
Male
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Northern Oriole Icterus galbula

• Sound
• Common food sources insects, caterpillars,
  fruit, nectar and spiders.
• Interesting facts females have no solid black
  hood and are dull, whereas males are brightly
  colored with a black hood, have long and pointed
  beak, and long tails. The Northern American
  Orioles are named after similar-looking birds of
  the Old World.

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Ruby Throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris

• Sound
• Common food sources small insects, flower nectar
  and tree saps.
• Interesting facts nests are constructed of
  thistle and dandelion down, eggs are white,
  female have a white throat and males have a red
  throat, the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have green
  iridescent backs, and they hover at flowers.

Female
Male
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Common Raven Corvus corax

• Sound
• Common food sources mostly feed on carcasses
  torn by wolves, etc.
• Interesting facts Common Ravens are crafty,
  cunning and opportunistic. They are very
  intelligent and make good parents. When airborne,
  they look very graceful.

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WARBLERS

• Coniferous
• Black-throated blue warbler
• (Dendroica caerulescens)

• Deciduous
• Hooded Warbler 
• (Wilsonia citrina) 

• 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

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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

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

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Owls

• Deciduous Forest
• Great Horned owl Bubo virginianus
• Prairie Grassland
• Burrowing owl Athene cunicularia
• Coniferous Forest
• Short-eared owl Asio flammeus

• All three owls sing alike, with the ooo sounds.
  Female and males look alike in each species,
  though the females are often a bit larger.
• Short-eared owls are medium-sized.
• Burrowing owls are small.
• Great horned owls are large owls.

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Chickadees

• Coniferous Forest
• Boreal chickadee Peocile hudsonicus
• Deciduous Forest
• Black-capped chickadee Poecile atricapillus

• Both chickadees are small, short-billed, black
  birds with white cheeks. Both species hide their
  food for later recovery.
• Black-capped chickadees songs are complex and
  sound very language-like.
• Boreal chickadees songs are scratchy and sound
  like, chick-a-dee-dee.

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Blackbirds

• Deciduous Forest
• Brewers blackbird Euphagus asanocephalus
• Coniferous Forest
• Red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoenuceus

• Both birds are medium-sized songbirds.
• Brewers blackbird males are iridescent black and
  females are smaller and a dull gray-brown.
• Red-winged blackbird males are black with red
  shoulders and females are brown striped all over.

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Nuthatches

• Deciduous Forest
• White-breasted nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
• Coniferous Forest
• Red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis

• Both species have rapidly increasing population
  numbers.
• Red-breasted nuthatches migrate South very early,
  and they begin in around July.
• White-breasted nuthatches migrate in flocks in
  the winter.

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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

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Works Cited

• http//www.wildlifeseeds.com/foodplots/turkey/
• www.pbase.com
• jmusic-man.livejournal.com
• http//www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGui
  de/
• http//whatbird.com/
• http//www.all-birds.com/feeding-birds.htm
• http//www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/eastblue/
  ebreq.htm
• www.statesymbolsusa.org
• http//www.aspensongwildbirdfood.com/wildbirds/sp
  eciesprofiles/detail.php?id44
• http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//i1.t
  reknature.com/photos/5415/femcardinalsnowberry-web
  
• http//www.answers.com/topic/american-goldfinch
• http//images.google.com/images?um1hlenqmale
  americangoldfinch
• http//images.google.com/images?um1hlenqfemal
  eamericangoldfinchbtnGSearchImages
• http//animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/account
  s/information/Hirundo_rustica.html
• http//images.google.com/images?um1hlenqfemal
  ebarnswallow
• http//www.howardsview.com/Birds/BlueJay.jpg
• http//sdakotabirds.com/species/photos/baltimore_o
  riole_male.jpg
• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c
  /Male_Ruby-Throated_Hummingbird_1.jpg

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Works Cited

• http//www.minnesotacabinandlandrentals.com/pages/
  recreational_land.html
• http//animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/
  NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/comm
  on-loon.jpg
• http//www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?typeaAnimalA
  udioID345
• http//www.junglewalk.com/sound/Bird-sounds.htm
• http//animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/account
  s/information/Aves.html
• www.reference.com