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 Heron
Ardea herodias
 Song:
 Common Food Sources:
 mostly fish, but also: frogs,
 snakes, birds, small mammals,
 crayfish, dragonflies
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Female GBH
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
Male GBH
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
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
Wood Duck
Aix sponsa
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Song:
Male
Common Food Sources:
vegetation, insects, snails,
tadpoles, and salamanders
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Interesting information:
-Forages while swimming
-Females lay 9-15 eggs
-Preferred habitats include
wooded swamps and
freshwater marshes
Female
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
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
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
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 Woodpecker
Melanerpes erythrocephalus
 Song: Listen
 Common Food Sources: Beech and oak mast,
 seeds,nuts, berries, fruit, insects, bird eggs,
 nestlings, mice.
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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:
Male Pheasant
 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
Female Pheasant
Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
 Sound:
 Common food sources: seeds and insects
 Interesting facts: turkeys are grounddwelling birds, have extremely powerful
legs, bare heads and necks, have slightly
down-curved bill, tips of tail are chesnutbrown in the East and white in the
Southwest.
Male
Female
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.
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
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.
Male
Female
American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis
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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
Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
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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 “bodyfluff” bobbing motions with their
bodies when fighting to intimidate
other birds, pairs form monogamous
bonds that usually last until one of
the birds dies.
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
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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.
Male
Female
Northern Oriole Icterus galbula
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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.
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.
Male
Female
Common Raven Corvus corax
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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.
WARBLERS
 Deciduous
 Coniferous
 Black-throated blue warbler  Hooded Warbler
 (Dendroica caerulescens)  (Wilsonia citrina)
Commonalities:
 Differences:
Eat insects and
 Yellow/Dark Blue
spiders (food source)
 Hooded population is
Found mainly in the
common and increasing
northeastern U.S.
in some areas
Sexually dimorphic
 Blue population is
stable
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
 Weight: 800-180 g
(Grebe)
 Weight: Weight: 770012700 g
Ground Nesting Birds
Male Spruce Grouse
Male Wild Turkey
Male Prairie Chicken
Female Spruce Grouse
Female Wild Turkey
Female Prairie Chicken
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:
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 Wild Turkey
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 (Meleagris
gallopavo)
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 Food: buds,
grasses, grain, 
berries, insects,
frogs and
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snakes
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 Weighs 2500
10,800 g
 Sexually
dimorphic
 Lost by one
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vote in 1782 to
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become
national bird
Prairie:
Greater Prairiechicken
(Tympanuchus
cupido)
Food: plants &
insects
Weighs 700-1200 g
Sexually dimorphic
Very rare and nearextinct due to habitat
loss
Do not migrate
Male ritual of
“booming”
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.
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-adee-dee”.
Blackbirds
 Deciduous Forest
 Brewer’s blackbird Euphagus
asanocephalus
 Coniferous Forest
 Red-winged blackbird Agelaius
phoenuceus
 Both birds are medium-sized songbirds.
 Brewer’s 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.
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.
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
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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Identification Tips:
Length: 24 inches
Wingspan: 58 inches
Sexes similar
Large diving bird, large bill
Feet set far back on body
Works Cited
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jmusic-man.livejournal.com
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Works Cited:
 http://www.minnesotacabinandlandrentals.com/pages/recr
eational_land.html
 http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Sha
red/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/common-loon.jpg
 http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&AnimalAudi
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 http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/Bird-sounds.htm
 http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/infor
mation/Aves.html
 www.reference.com