Proceedings of the Minnesota

Ornithological Records Committee

Kim R. Eckert, MORC Chairman

There was a meeting of the Comittee

on 6 December 1998, and the

agenda consisted of items related to

the new edition of the Checklist of the

Birds of Minnesota, published in January

1999.

Species for which there have been Ac-

ceptable records in eight of the past ten

years were discussed and classified as ei-

ther Regular or Casual. By majority vote,

these were classified as follows:

Cinnamon Teal

Regular (no

change). Gyrfalcon - Regular (changed

from Casual). Iceland Gull - Regular

(changed from Casual). Great Black-

backed Gull - Regular (changed from

Casual). Worm-eating Warbler- Regular

(no change). Summer Tanager- Regular

(no change). Smith's Longspur - Regular

(no change).

Species for which there have been Ac-

ceptable records in three of the past ten

years were discussed and classified as ei-

ther Casual or Accidental. By majority

vote, these were classified as follows:

White-faced Ibis

Casual (no

change). King Rail

Casual (no

change). Long-billed Curlew - Acciden-

tal (changed from Casual). Least Tern -

Casual (no change). Rock Wren- Casual

(no change). Green-tailed Towhee- Ac-

cidental (no change). Baird's Sparrow -

Casual (no change). Lazuli Bunting -

Casual (no change). Painted Bunting -

Accidental (no change).

Including those species whose status

changed automatically without a vote

(i.e, seen in nine or ten of the past ten

years), the following changed from Ca-

sual to Regular status:

Pacific Loon. Clark's Grebe. Gyrfalcon.

Iceland Gull. Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Great Black-backed Gull. Western Tana-

ger.

There was also one Accidental species

(Trumpeter Swan; see below) whose sta-

tus changed to Regular.

Including those species whose status

changed automatically without a vote

(i.e, seen in seven, six, five or four of the

past ten years):

Lark Bunting changed from Regular to

Casual status; King Eider, Red Phalarope,

and Prairie Warbler changed from Acci-

dental to Casual status.

Including those species whose status

changed automatically without a vote

(i.e, seen in two or fewer of the past ten

years), the following changed from Ca-

sual to Accidental status:

Brant, Long-billed Curlew, Western

Sandpiper, Barn Owl, Rufous Humming-

bird, Western Wood-Pewee, and Sage

Thrasher.

The following species are new to the

Checklist since the previous edition (De-

cember 1993); all but one (Spotted Tow-

36

Th e Loon Volume 71