Proceedings of the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee

Proceedings of the Minnesota

Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee

Thomas A. Tustison, Chairman

The most recent meeting of the Minnesota

Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee

(MOURC) was conducted at the Bell Mu-

seum on 8 December 2019. In attendance and

voting at this meeting were MOURC members

Dedrick A. Benz, Anthony X. Hertzel, Ann E.

Kessen (alternate), Douglas W. Kieser, William

C. Marengo, Steven P. Stucker, Alex V. Sundvall

(alternate), and Thomas A. Tustison (chair).

The status of each of the 444 species on the

2019 Checklist was examined by the entire Min-

nesota Ornithologists’ Union Records Commit-

tee over the course of the past year. All species

were evaluated and discussed at the 6 April

2019 meeting. Status changes were recognized

for 14 species as follows:

From Casual to Regular (one species):

White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica).

From Regular to Casual (three species): Red

Knot (Calidris canutus), Mountain Bluebird

(Sialia currucoides), and Kentucky Warbler

(Geothlypis formosa).

From Casual to Accidental (five species):

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna

autumnalis), Snowy Plover (Charadrius ni-

vosus), Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax

brasilianus), Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis),

and Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus).

From Accidental to Casual (five species):

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), Least

Tern (Sternula antillarum), Barn Owl (Tyto

alba), Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis),

and Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana).

Since the publication of the 2019 Checklist

in October 2019, four corrections have been

identified and are as follows:

For Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus cal-

liope), the date for the single fall-winter record

should state “one fall-winter (1994).”

For King Rail (Rallus elegans), the follow-

ing sentence should be added: “Last breeding

record 2017.”

For Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis), a

King Eider, 4 January 2019, Duluth, St. Louis

County. Photo by Steve Broste.

final sentence should be added to read “For-

merly Casual.”

Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus),

an “H” superscript should be added to the aster-

isk. An “H” superscript means, with respect to

confirmed breeding, that “one of the breeding

individuals was, or may have been, a different

species.” It is clear from the photographic evi-

dence that one, and most likely both, parents

were Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Voting on first

state breeding for this species is currently pend-

ing before MOURC.

The following records were voted on (most

electronically) and Accepted:

• Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Dendrocyg-

na autumnalis) [Accidental], 23−24 June 2019,

North Ottawa Impoundment, Grant County

(record #2019-035, vote 7–0). Adult.

• Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) [Ca-

sual], 20 April 2019, various locations on Park

Point, Duluth, St. Louis County (record #2019-

Fall 2019

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