They are found in both prairie and forest areas of the state. Swamps may spread out for thousands of acres, and are especially common in northern Minnesota, where they intermingle with lakes, streams, bogs, and marshes. Many migrating bird species use swamps as rest stops, and woodpeckers search for insects in the abundant dead trees. Swamps are often pristine ecosystems, and support some of the state's rarest plant species, including ram's-head lady slipper and other orchids. Bogs -Peatland, muskeg, and moor are wetlands that form on a thick mat of peat covered by a layer of sphagnum moss that builds up above the water table.
Bogs can cover large areas of land, and often include black spruce and tamarack stands.
The great gray owl depends on the unique features of the bog, and birds such as sharptailed grouse, spruce grouse, red-tailed hawk, and a variety of smaller birds thrive there as well. Because they are relatively inaccessible and not suitable for agriculture, bogs are our most undisturbed wilderness. They occur most commonly in the coniferous forest biome of Minnesota.