After we got clobbered by that blizzard in November, the worst part of the winter was over-before it really began! December temperatures were close to the average, varying no more than a couple of degrees above the norm in the Southeast and a couple below the norm in the Northeast. The high for the month was 58° at Austin and Winona, while the lowest was -38° at Tower. Snowfall did not cripple us either for the most part. Precipitation for December was a bit below average in most areas (at most.61" below in the West Central), while only the Southeast and South Central regions were slightly above normal. Four recording spots in the West Central received no more than a trace of precipitation, while Caribou (try to find that one on your Rand-McNally) received the most snow for December to the modest tune of 15".

January may have been colder than normal, especially early in the month, but things later on more than made up for it. All regions except the Northwest (which enjoyed a whopping.8° above normal) were colder than normal, with the extreme of 3.4 o below average in the Northeast. High temperature for January was 44° on the 29th at Winona and Fairmont, while the low was a modest -40° on the 27th at Hoyt Lakes-an 84 ° difference in just two days. Precipitation for the month varied from.43" below the norm in the South Central to.51" above normal in the West Central.

Grand Marais had more snow than anyone else (37.9").

Spring began in February this year.

Temperatures were way above normal in all regions, from 8.1 to 10.6 degrees above average! While it was still cold at the beginning of the month (Tower had -41 o on the 2nd), things really warmed up at the end with a high of 64o at Marshall on the 25th Such conditions brought up many many spring migrants into the state as the species accounts demonstrate.

We didn't get too much in the way of snow either (rain would have been more likely). All regions were at or below February precipitation norms (the South Contral was the driest at .44" below average). And the most snow for the month was a mere 14.5" at Gunflint Lake. Such lack of snow may have been a boon to those yearn· ing for spring, but that low precipitation in December and February is, at the time of this writing in August, in the process of drying up crops and potholes.

No less than 63 contributors (a record number for winter?) and 34 Christmas Counts (a record) supplied data on 137 species (5 short of last year's record). Because of the mild weather there were a lot of birds around for the Christmas Counts and a lot of migrants around in late February, but there wasn't much in the way of things sensational like last winter's Lewis's Woodpecker. The only "black letter" birds on the Christmas Counts, besides the now regular Varied Thrush on the St. Paul Northeast count, were late-lingering migrants.

As usual, Afton had the highest count with 71 species, while Winona, Rochester and St. Paul Northeast were in the 50's. By far the best bird of the season was the always exciting Ivory Gull on New Year's Day at Duluth, one of six gull species seen here this winter (Herring, Glaucous, late Ringbilled, the rare Thayer's and the casual Iceland). Almost as unusual would be the Barn Owl in Stearns County. though substantiating details are still needed.

The most unusual late-lingering strays were the White Pelican in St.

Paul, two Greater Scaup, a Surf Scoter at Grand Marais, a January Ruddy Duck, unprecedented Ospreys at Hastings and Rochester, a late-February Virginia Rail, a catbird way up in Marshall Co. that overwintered, the December Cape May Warbler, a January Yellow·headed Blackbird, literally flocks of cowbirds on Christmas Counts, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the Bloomington count, a December Chipping Sparrow and Field Sparrows in February. Populations of northern species were mixed. Raptors were down (though Snowy Owls were up, only one report each of Hawk and Great Gray Owls was turned in, and no one could find Gyrfalcon or Boreal Owl), Spruce Grouse were easier to find (five reports), Bohemian Waxwings were up, and winter finch numbers were mediocre (except for good flights of Evening Grosbeak, redpolls and Snow Bunting). It appears there may have been some identification problems this winter. The difficulty of separating immature Iceland from Thayer's Gulls continues and may even be compounding, Brewer's and Rusty Blackbirds in winter are easy to confuse, Common Redpolls may have been mistaken for Hoaries, and Tree Sparrows without breast spots sometimes are identified as Chipping.

Finally, it is worth noting the good peaks of many species reported on some Christmas counts. While it would be hard to single out the most significant peak of the lot, my favorite has to be one of an always overlooked species at a never overlooked location: 7701 pigeons at Duluth set a new North American Christmas Count record! Hats off to a truly amazing ornithological event-wait a minute, on second thought, you better keep them on.