Scavenger Hunt at Luce Line State Trail (Winstead to Cedar Mills)
Please note: The official 2023 season is finished. There are no more weekly drawings. However, you are still welcome to enjoy the hunts.
Welcome! You are tasked with finding "items" from these categories:
Happy scavenging!
Leaves: 7-9 leaflets per stem. Bark: Dark brown tinged with red; strongly ridged. Note: An invasive insect known as the emerald ash borer is spreading across the state and killing off many ash trees.
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Leaf: 7-9 rounded lobes with deep and shallow notches. Tips large and wavy. Fruit: Acorn with fringe around cup. These feed many wildlife. Tree Form: Relatively short trunk with heavy, sprawling branches
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Leaves: Triangular. Bark: Light gray on young trees and dark gray and rough on older trees. Fruit: Fluffy, cottony catkins that disperse in wind in May - June.
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Blooms: May - July Found: In moist fields and along shores. Petals: White petals sit atop a long-stem. Leaves: Large and jagged.
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Blooms: August - October Found: In fields and wood edges. Petals: Dainty purple swirl around yellow disk. Fun Fact: Important late-blooming food source for bees and butterflies.
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Blooms: June - October Found: Sunny fields, along roads or lakeshores. Petals: Cheery yellow petals swirl around a black center.
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There are many types of caterpillars roaming around in Minnesota parks. They may be fuzzy, stripy, or plain, and each will transform into a moth or butterfly. The ones here are the Tussock Moth (top left), the Woolybear (bottom left), and the Monarch, which can be found on milkweed plants.
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Color: Bright orange with black veins. Found: Flying around wildflowers. Fun Fact: They fly down to Mexico before winter begins.
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Often invisible until the sun hits it just right. Spiders create these fantastic contraptions to catch prey. The silk is made in glands on the spider's abdomen. Many spiders will eat their own web each day and rebuild a new one the next day.
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Appearance: Bold blue and white with crest on its head. Found: In the forest. Listen for: Loud shrieks. Fun Fact: They are considered one of the most intelligent birds and have tight family bonds.
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Appearance: small, blue-gray birds with small heads and a pointed tail. Found: On country roads, in towns, and in open forests. Fun Fact: Mourning doves provide a form of sustenance to their young called "pigeon milk" - which even shares some of the same nutrients as the milk we get from cows!
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Appearance: Males have colorful plumage and a long, patterned tail. Females have brown plumage with black markings and slightly shorter tails. Found: In tall vegetation and along dirt roads. Keep an ear out for the male's birdcall or their wing-flapping displays. Fun Fact: Pheasants eat pebbles to help them digest their food.
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Appearance: Semi-circle with brown top and pure white underside. Found: On tree trunks of hardwood trees and some conifers. CAUTION: Never eat any mushroom unless knowledgeable.
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Appearance: White or creamy color rounded cap that flattens with age. Gills closely spaced.
Found: Aug-Dec growing from a branch scar or other wound high in a living tree, especially elm.
CAUTION: Never eat any mushroom unless knowledgeable.
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Many animals, such as squirrels, raccoons, owls, bats, weasels, porcupines, songbirds, and others, make their homes inside tree holes. The holes can occur from tree decay or broken branches, or else with the help of woodpeckers. While it's rare to see the occupant, let's assume it's a home for someone.
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Color: Brown, olive green, or reddish. Found: Near water or moist areas. Toads are amphibians that start life as tadpoles and then emerge onto dry land as tiny toadlets about the length of a fingernail.
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Color: Black with 3 yellow lengthwise stripes. Found: In the brush or sunning themselves on a paved trail. No need to fear these reptiles who mind their own business.
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WHAT OTHER INTERESTING THINGS DID YOU FIND?
Fill in the following information to be entered in our weekly drawing for a $25 gift card to Minnesota State Parks, which will be mailed to the winner. Weekly winners are randomly selected from entries to ALL participating parks and trails—only one entry per park each summer. However, you are welcome to participate and enter the drawing at multiple parks' this summer.
Please note: For anyone age 12 and under, please enter adult companion's info.
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