The Conception of the Minnesota State Bird and Flower

The state of Minnesota has many lakes and harsh winters, and back in 1961 Minnesota decided that the bird to represent their state would be the loon. With many lakes in Minnesota the loon is quite at home, being able to swim and fly over the lakes and land.

Loons are big birds that fly throughout the sky with wide strong wings of almost five
feet. The wings need to be big and strong since the body of the loon can be as big as three feet. The loon flies to the greatest of heights and be able to see a fish in the lake and fly down to get the fish with precise accuracy.

With the Minnesota state bird being of a large size and weighing up to twelve pounds, it is very important for the loon to be able to support their weight in flight with large wings and a large strong neck and head usually of colors of black and white mixture. In many species of birds there is a difference in the appearance between the male and female. This is not so between the male and female loon, the only difference between them is that the male loon is a little bigger than the female loon. Both have big black beaks for hunting and fishing and red eyes.

The loon enjoys being around the lakes of Minnesota, it is only natural the loon will use the grass and twigs to build their nests when they reach the age of four. Once the male has picked out his mate the two will build their nest. The male protects the nest and mate from any predators. They usually just have one or two eggs in the large nest, for the baby loons to grow properly and leave the nest for their first flying lesson at the age of two months.

Minnesota state flower is the wild flower called the lady’s slipper. It is pink and white and is a small beautiful flower looking like a slipper that a lady would wear, thus giving it the name of the lady’s slipper. Even though the Minnesota state flower is a very pretty strong flower able to stand the harsh weather in Minnesota. The lady’s slipper is a rare flower in Minnesota due to the fact that it takes a considerable amount of time to grow this flower.