The state's first Northern Fulmar was discovered at Park Point this season, marking the 442nd species to be added to the Minnesota Checklist. Additional rarities included two Accidental species (Tricolored Heron and Lewis's Woodpecker) and eleven Casual species (Eurasian Wigeon, two White-winged Doves, four Black-necked Stilts, Western Sandpiper, two White-eyed Vireos, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, three Worm-eating Warblers, two Yellow-throated Warblers, Prairie Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow, and Painted Bunting). All were spring migrants seen in April or May, except for the Eurasian Tree Sparrow which had overwintered.

All the Regular migrant geese returned to southern Minnesota in February and were north by the first week of March. Sporadic reports of Mute Swans from the middle of the state continued a recent trend, this season from Wright and Chisago counties. Drake Cinnamon Teal were discovered in mid-April in both Washington and Scott counties, the latter producing a first county record. Also in mid-April was a Eurasian Wigeon that was found in some Aitkin County rice paddies.

Wild Turkeys were seen in more north (29 of 34) and south (53 of 53) counties than in any prior season. A total of 4,600 Horned Grebes off Park Point was a remarkable tally in early May. The only report of a Clark's Grebe came from Lake Osakis, the most reliable location in the state for this Rare Regular species.

Eurasian Collared-Doves continued their slow expansion towards the northeastern corner of the state; a first record for Koochiching means that the species has now been found in all but five counties. Two White-winged Doves also produced first county records, these for Le Sueur and Blue Earth; this species has now been reported in 14 of the past 15 years — and only twice prior to this string of occurrences. With reports from Houston and Todd counties, Common Gallinules have now been found in eleven consecutive springs.

Six Black-necked Stilts were documented between late April and mid-May. While Whimbrels were only found along the North Shore, another Lake Superior specialty, Red Knot, was seen not only in Duluth but also in Garrison where it was a first record for Crow Wing County. A Western Sandpiper in Murray County was the third spring record of this species since 2010. At the East Grand Forks W.T.P. a tally of 225 Red-necked Phalaropes was record-high.

In any season, Parasitic is the most likely jaeger to be found in Minnesota. This is especially true during the spring, so it was not surprising when an adult jaeger at Park Point in late May was confirmed as a Parasitic. Also at Park Point around the same time was an adult Little Gull. Iceland Gull numbers were down this season, and, somewhat surprisingly, all of them noted to subspecies were “Thayer's” Gulls. At least nine Lesser Black-backed Gulls was an excellent total, while eight Great Black-backeds — six of them in Duluth — was quite respectable. Lately, the state has been averaging one Pacific Loon each spring; this season did not disappoint as one was seen at Park Point in mid-May.

The headline for the season was the discovery of a recently deceased Northern Fulmar on a Park Point beach in late April. This “tubenose” was the first of its order to be found in Minnesota, and the first fulmar to be seen in the Western Great Lakes.

Snowy Egrets were found in 12 counties, the highest total since spring 2006. A Tricolored Heron photographed in Murray County was the first record of this species since 2012. Two Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, including a first record for Faribault County, was the highest spring total for this species since 1993. White-faced Ibis arrived record-early at multiple locations, both south and north.

Eleven of the twelve species of owls on the Minnesota Checklist were found this season, with a Barn Owl audio-taped in Houston the most remarkable of the finds. The “northern” owls were all present, but in unremarkable numbers.

A Lewis's Woodpecker in St. Louis County provided the fifth record for the state. Red-headed Woodpeckers were found in 70 counties, the most in at least 25 years.

Flycatchers arrived pretty much on schedule. Three Say's Phoebes was the highest total of this Rare Regular species since 2013 when four individuals were found; all, as might be expected, were in the western third of the state. White-eyed Vireos were found in Fillmore and Steele counties in the extreme southeast corner of the state.

Tufted Titmice were fairly unusual in the state during the days of T.S. Roberts, but made a significant expansion into the state in the middle of the 20th century. By the 1970s their range began to retract, so that late in that century they were primarily restricted to the Southeast region. Recently, however, they have begun to expand their range once again. This season's reports from 14 counties represent a new spring high county count. Five Carolina Wrens was the highest count for this southern species since the irruption during the fall and winter of 2012.

Eleven was an excellent total of Townsend's Solitaires; all were south of a line from Washington to Wilkin counties. The only two Varied Thrushes, however, were discovered in the Northeast region. Fifteen Northern Mockingbirds was the same total as for the prior spring, the most since 2005. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow that overwintered in Two Harbors was rediscovered there in early April and lingered until early May.

A “lucky” observer found a Pine Grosbeak south in Morrison County on St. Patrick's Day. This was not a redpoll winter, as there were few reports of Common and no reports of Hoary redpolls south this spring. Red Crossbills were only found south in Benton and Hennepin counties, and White-wingeds were scarce everywhere. There was an above-average number of reports of Smith's Longspurs in the state, but this good news was tempered by the fact that only one Chestnut-collared Longspur was found at Felton Prairie.

In perhaps a last hurrah of winter, an ice storm in late April produced a fallout of sparrows along the North Shore in Cook County, including 2,100 Dark-eyed Juncos, 653 Fox Sparrows, and 341 American Tree Sparrows. One report of a Spotted Towhee was a typical number for this western visitor. Minnesota's 14th record of Golden-crowned Sparrow, found in Plymouth, was only the second for the Twin Cities following one in Eagan in March 2009.

A Yellow-breasted Chat was discovered in Washington County at the end of the spring season. A pair of Great-tailed Grackles in Hendricks produced a first record for Lincoln County.

Three Worm-eating Warblers were the most in any season since Spring 1999. Yellow-throated Warblers were discovered in Minneapolis for the second consecutive year and at Whitewater State Park for the fifth year in a row. A Prairie Warbler audio-taped in Beltrami County was only the second northern record for this species; the first was a fall report from Grand Marais in 1994. Eight Summer Tanagers and six Western Tanagers were found scattered around the state, while the season's lone Painted Bunting was a first record for Rice County.

Weather: After a fairly mild winter, average monthly temperatures were near normal in March and a few degrees above normal in April. In May, with snow at the beginning of the month and cooler than normal weather towards the end, the run of 20 consecutive months of above-average monthly temperatures in southern and central Minnesota came to an end; the preliminary statewide average temperature was 1.7ºF below normal. Ice-out dates for lakes in the state were about two weeks ahead of historical averages.

Precipitation in March was above average in the Northeast and Southeast regions, but below average elsewhere. Above-average precipitation persisted throughout the season in the Southeast. While severe storms were infrequent, one storm brought two to five inches of rainfall to several Southeast counties on 15–16 May.

Insufficiently documented records of Regular species: Trumpeter Swan 3/28 Washington (150) (apparent migrants, more likely to be Tundra Swans); Common Nighthawk 3/31 Hubbard (early date); Short-billed Dowitcher 4/22 Lac qui Parle, 4/25–26 Faribault (max. 45) (early dates, more likely Long-billed Dowitchers); Snowy Egret 3/1 Grant (record early date by 3 weeks); Boreal Chickadee 4/17 Crow Wing (out of range); Wood Thrush 4/23 Otter Tail (early date); American Tree Sparrow 5/30 Marshall (nest with egg) (unprecedented breeding record); Field Sparrow 3/24 Morrison (record early north by a week); Baltimore Oriole 4/17 Benton (early date); Tennessee Warbler 4/24 Morrison (record early north); Yellow Warbler 3/31 Hubbard (record early).

Acknowledgements: We thank Jeanie Joppru and Jim Lind for compiling and providing transcripts of Minnesota's two weekly birding reports. Special thanks to Dave Cahlander for building and maintaining the seasonal reports submission and production web pages (http://moumn.org/moureports/season.php) through which most of this data is collected and organized. In addition to the data collected through this MOU website, we are grateful for the data provided for the creation of this report by eBird (http://www.ebird.org, accessed June 2017). Medians of recent arrivals and departures are based on published and unpublished seasonal report data from the 25-year period 1992 through 2016. Finally and most importantly, our appreciation goes out to all those who contribute their sightings data to the MOU. We are especially grateful to those who respond to our requests for details and who submit observations online.