Biodiversity in Minnesota

By Zak Walters

Eastern Bluebird(Sialia sialis)

• Description: – A blue and rusty songbird that weighs about 1 ¼ ounces.– Male bluebirds are much more brightly colored than females.

• Reproduction: – Bluebirds nest from late March through early August. They build cup-like nests of grass or pine needles in a nest box or some other cavity. – They usually lay 3 to 5 eggs that are either pale blue or white. – Typically, two baby eastern bluebirds are raised during the nesting season.

• Food:– Wide range of insects and fruit.– They like to eat meal worms at bird feeders.

• Predators:– Birds of prey, snakes, and some mammals.– Cats and raccoons are the main predators.

• Habitat:– Mainly open woodlands, roadsides, farmlands, and orchards. – Sometimes suburbs and city parks. – Found in every county in Minnesota.

• Population:– The population went down dangerously from the 1930-1960s because of habitat loss and competition from other cavity-nesting birds like the

starlings and house sparrows.– Their population soon rose again after the Bluebird Recover Program of the Audubon Society of Minneapolis partnered with the DNR

Nongame Wildlife Program.– Because of this partnership, Minnesota now has one of the most successful bluebird recovery projects in the nation.

• Fun Facts:– symbol of happiness. – Although sighting a bluebird is considered an early sign of spring, a few usually linger until late December and some return as early as

February.– They usually gather in flocks of more than 100.

Chipmunk(Tamias minimus)

• Description:– Alternating dark and light strips (nine on the least, seven on the eastern), overlaid on rusty and gray body colors.

• Reproduction:– About 30 days after mating, the female chipmunk has a litter of about 4-6 chipmunks.

• Food:– Acorns, hazelnuts, seeds, berries, insects, and sometimes snails.– Will also sometimes steal scraps of food from picnic tables.

• Predators:– Hawks, snakes, weasels, and foxes.

• Habitat:– The gray Eastern Chipmunk lives where the oak trees are found. (most of Minnesota except for the southwest portion.– The Lest Chipmunk lives where coniferous forests are located. (Northern Minnesota).

• Population:– Generally about 25 species– 24 found in North America– Two species found in Minnesota

• Fun Facts:– Have facial stripes that is not found on any other mammals.– Will eat holes in the bottoms of tomatoes to get tomato juice.– Closely related to squirrels.

(Ictalurus punctatus)• Description:

– forked tail, flat head, whiskers (called barbels), and a smooth skin. – On average, 12-24 inches in length.– On average, 2-7lbs in weight.– Silvery blue to light olive with black spots.

• Reproduction:– Spawn when water temperatures reach 75 degrees, usually in late June.– The eggs are deposited in a jelly-like mass. – After spawning, the male drives off the female and guards the eggs. – The eggs hatch in six to 10 days.

• Food:– They mainly feed at night which is crayfish, insects, snails, small clams, worms, fish, and the seeds of elm and silver maple trees.

• Predators:– Large freshwater fish such as flathead catfish and muskies.

• Habitat:– Large and small rivers, lakes, and ponds.– Common in the Mississippi River, the St. Croix River, and in the larger tributaries of both rivers. – Also stocked in some lakes in northwestern Minnesota.

• Fun Facts:

– Catfish can't "sting" you, but these fish have a sharp spine in the top and side fins. – The Minnesota record channel catfish is 38 pounds, caught in the Mississippi River. – The world record, 58 pounds, was taken in South Carolina. – About one percent of all Minnesota anglers fish for catfish.

Gray Tree Frog(Hyla versicolor)

• Descrption:– Has toe pads which enable it to climb shrubs and trees.– 1 1/4 - 2 inches in length.– Gray to creamy white and the inner thighs on the hind legs of all gray tree frogs are yellow.

• Reproduction:– Breed in May when they move to breeding ponds.– Clusters of up to 30 eggs are attached to vegetation near the surface of the water. – The eggs hatch in three to six days. – Tadpoles transform within two months. – Adults reach maturity within two years.

• Food:– Various bugs and insects.

• Predators:

• Habitat:– Breeding habitat: Shallow wetlands within or near forested habitat.– Summer habitat: Closely associated with woodland and forest habitats. Often found in residential areas where it may be seen on windows

feeding on insects attracted to lights.– Winter habitat: Terrestrial.Body can withstand partial freezing.

• Fun Facts– This frog can change colors, so it can be anything from a mottled grayish green or solid green to a gray or creamy white color.– Sometimes spend the winter in a partially frozen state under leaf litter, rocks and logs. – Often seen on windows on summer evenings where the frogs feed on bugs attracted.

White Spruce(Picea glauca)

• Description:– Bark:

• Dark gray or gray-brown and scaly.– Leaves:

• Needlelike, four-sided, crowded along branchlets; length 1/3" to 3/4"; pale bluish when young, dark bluish-green when mature; sharply pointed; has a slightly disagreeable odor when crushed.

– Fruit/seeds:• Slender cone, length about 2“.• Cone scales round and soft at ends.• Cone thin and flexible when mature.• Narrow-winged seeds mature in one season.• Cones drop during winter after opening and shedding seeds.

• Seed Dispursement:– by wind, most falling within about 300' of source, but seeds have been found as far as 1,300' away.

Seeds found considerable distances from a source probably travel over crusted snow. – Red squirrels also disperse seeds.

• Economic uses:– Important commercially for pulpwood and construction lumber. – Specialty items such as sounding boards, paddles and oars, cabinets, boxes, and food containers.

• Fun Fact:– Was the main tree species during the last ice age.

Wintergreen(Gaultheria procumbens )

• Description:– White flowers.– Red Berries.– Light Brown Stems.

• When it flowers:– Blooms During the summer.

• Uses:– Sometimes for medical reasons as a pain killer.

• Fun Fact:– Some parts can be poisonous.