The species total for the 1981 summer season was 261, a number that has varied little in the last five years. Confirmation of the breeding status in Minnesota for the Northern American Three-toed Woodpecker and Rusty Blackbird was finally obtained in Cook County. The other noteworthy breeding record was the discovery of a family of Burrowing Owls for the second year in a row.

Breeding data were accumulated for 166 species by 57 observer teams.

It rained on twenty-eight out of thirty days in June in Duluth, putting a damper on bird watching and probably on bird nesting. Other parts of the state were not quite so soggy but it still was a wet, albeit warm, summer overall. The number of species seen in June and July was 261; that number has fluctuated little in the last five years, only from 259 to 262. Of that total about 40 species are migrants, visitants, or vagrants. The rest probably nest, although actual breeding data were turned in this year for 166 species. My admonition on the need for breeding information, expressed in the summary for the 1980 Summer Season, stands. Anyone who needs more nest-brood forms is urged to visit a local copying machine or to write Kim Eckert or me for blank forms. The dynamos on nest finding this year were the Hoffmans, Nestor Hiemenz, Erlys Krueger and "D. J.

Johnson. Their participation is greatly appreciated.

The highlights of the nesting season were the first documented breeding in Minnesota for the Northern Threetoed Woodpecker and Rusty Black bird, both found along Cook County's Gunflint Trail which penetrates the most boreal-type forests in the state.

Two other species, Boreal Owl and Wilson's Warbler, which have been found there in the past were not located anywhere in the state this summer.

The King Rail, which was last seen during summer in 1977, was missed again this year. The outlook for its remaining on the list of regular breeding species is slim unless someone soon finds a breeding location.

Both Baird's Sparrow and Sprague's Pipit were not located during the height of the nesting season in spite of many field trips to the places with the most favorable habitat on the prairie east of Felton. Better news was the discovery of a family of Burrowing Owls, making it the second year in a row this species has been found nesting in the state. The initial discovery of Bell's Vireo and Yellow-breasted Chat in the Minnesota River Valley near Black Dog Lake generated much field activity and at least seven vireos and probably three chats were found in the Valley between Savage and Fort Snelling. Alder Flycatchers were also reported by several observers from this same general area which is slightly south of the range for this species mapped by Zink and Fall (loon 53:209). More detailed information on number of birds, dates, etc. would be useful.

Two spectacular vagrants showed up this summer on Minnesota Point, Duluth and were well documented by published photos: two Brant, first seen on June 20th, departed on July 1st (Loon 53:174-5) and a Wilson's Plover was discovered on July 4th (Loon 53: 123-5). Other strays included the Northern Mockingbird, Hooded Warbler (probably the same male as last summer near Savage) and Summer Tanager.

The same style is used for summarizing the species information as in the last two years with a couple of modifications. "Breeding data" means that an actual nest or brood card is on file for those counties listed. Sometimes I could exact enough information concerning date, place and breeding evidence from notes included on seasonal report forms and made out cards myself for a few noteworthy species from this source. But mostly "breeding data" indicates that some worthy observer filled out a nest or breed card. "Nesting evidence" is used for lesser amounts of information that point to breeding.

The species accounts should be read with the maps in Green and Janssen (Minnesota Birds) in mind. The regional descriptions (Northwest, Southeast, etc.; North -South; western, southern, etc.) refer to the map on p. 5 in that book which was also reprinted in Ther Loon 52:123. The phrases "throughout range" or "within range" refer to the map for a species as published in Minnesota Birds even though expansion of ranges or expansion of knowledge has occured since then. The distinction between throughout or within is subjective but based on the geographical frequency of observations with "throughout" used for more numerous observations widely distributed in the range. Sometimes I give the number of counties to also create a comparison of frequency of observation within a group of species, for example owls or warblers.

When a species was seen in only a few counties, I list them all.

All of these range descriptions or county lists are made possible by summarizing the data from all the seasonal reports on a separate map for each species. Symbols for the type of information, whether breeding or sight observation, are included for each county, and significant notes on date, observer, town, etc. are made in the margin. These maps, which I have used now for three years, are put in the M.O.U. species file and make a good visual display on ranges and frequency of observation.

The blank spots on the maps may be due to lack of observers as well as lack of birds; a perennial problem in interpretation that a longer time ser- ies of maps may help to overcome. The problem seems most acute in the Southwest were many common species, e.g. Yellow Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, are not reported. Is that because of the virtual elimination of wooded habitat in that agricultural area, or because we have few observers there? This report was written before the summary of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Breeding Bird Survey for 1981 was available. In addition to the contributions of M.O.U. members, data were obtained from the Department of Natural Resources (cranes and colonial species mostly) and from The Nature Conservancy on bird surveys of several of their prairie tracts. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged.

The following abbreviations are commonly used: DNR -Department of Natural Resources; NWR National Wildlife Refuge; SP -State Park; WMA -Wildlife Management Area. The only departure from using county names is Duluth, used because everyone knows where it is and St. Louis County is so large that listing it does not convey much geographical specificity.