The world's largest owl by length — Sax-Zim Bog near Meadowlands is one of North America's premier owl-watching sites, with up to 6 species in a single winter day.
During irruption years, Minnesota's open farmland and airports attract dozens of Snowy Owls — the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is a reliably productive site during peak invasion years.
One of North America's least-known breeding warblers — nests in wet spruce-tamarack bogs in Minnesota's northeast corner, singing from deep in the bog interior.
One of the most skulking sparrows in North America — the buffy orange face and streaked plumage are rarely seen well as it creeps through wet sedge meadows.
Minnesota has been central to the Trumpeter Swan recovery — from near-extinction to a large resident breeding population centered on the prairie pothole region.
Famously tame — this boreal grouse earns the nickname "fool hen" by remaining motionless on branches as observers approach to within 2 m on forest trails.
Minnesota's state bird — the BWCA supports 12,000+ territorial loons, the largest breeding population in the lower 48 states, with haunting calls filling the nights.
Males gather at traditional lek sites on open grasslands each April — the choreographed stomping and booming display at dawn is one of North America's finest wildlife spectacles.
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