Mid-March brought large flocks of Greater White-fronted and Snow geese to the Southwest. Eurasian Wigeons were found in Wabasha and Chippewa. In late April a remarkable total of over 8,500 Greater and Lesser scaup were found off of Park Point in St. Louis. An over-wintering male Harlequin Duck stayed in Washington until mid-March; more surprising were the one or two females in St. Louis in May. All three scoters were located in the southern half of the state, though Long-tailed Ducks were only found on Lake Superior. In addition to the over-wintering Barrow's Goldeneye in Duluth, another was found in Grand Rapids, Itasca County.

DNR surveys estimated a 9% increase in Sharp-tailed Grouse statewide over the prior year, and Wild Turkeys were reported as far northwest as Kittson.

Lone Red-throated Loons were discovered in Stearns and Benton in late April, but the loon story of the season was the unprecedented numbers of Red-throateds counted at the West Skyline Hawk Count — peaking at 117 on 3 May. On the other hand, no Pacific Loons were found this spring. Migrant Clark's Grebes appeared in Meeker and Anoka, but neither stayed long.

Four western counties plus Olmsted hosted Snowy Egrets, while Cattle Egrets were found in 14 counties — predominantly in the south and west.

Several Harlan's Red-tailed Hawks were counted at the West Skyline Hawk Count, while others were documented in McLeod and Stearns. A Prairie Falcon was at Hamden Slough N.W.R. in mid-April.

Yellow Rails were reported in six counties, including two first county records. A Common Moorhen was located at Sherburne N.W.R. and stayed through the end of the season. Agassiz N.W.R. briefly hosted the eleventh state record Snowy Plover in late May, while Piping Plovers were located in five counties.

Away from Lake Superior's North Shore, Whimbrels were found in Kandiyohi, Marshall and Polk — though all reports were of single-digit flocks. Reported from 26 counties, including a first county record for Koochiching, Hudsonian Godwits were more widespread than usual. Two Red Knots were in Marshall and St. Louis each.

A number of Calidrids, including Least, Baird's, and Pectoral sandpipers, along with Dunlin arrived quite early in late March. Lake Byllesby's third Ruff was a female in alternate plumage.

In late May an adult California Gull was discovered in Marshall. Duluth hosted a number of late migrant gulls in May, including Thayer's, Iceland, Glaucous, and a fourth state record Glaucous-winged Gull. The southern half of the state produced two or three Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a fifth state record Slaty-backed Gull. The latter species was not found in Minnesota until 2006, but has been reported annually since! Also increasing in frequency is Arctic Tern. Two were found this season, making it present in four of the last six springs. Though Regular in the fall, Parasitic Jaeger is only Casual in the spring, so one at Park Point was a nice find.

Eurasian Collared-Doves were reported in over half of the south counties, while lingering “winter” owls, such as Snowy, Northern Hawk, Great Gray, and Boreal were present in muted numbers.

Two Say's Phoebes produced three new county records, though neither of the birds lingered. Loggerhead Shrikes were found in 16 counties — including Lake — which is a slight improvement over the 14 and 13 counties of the prior two spring seasons. The lone White-eyed Vireo of the season was at Beaver Creek Valley State Park. Another southern specialty, Tufted Titmouse, wandered as far north as Isanti for a first county record, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher made it all the way to Kittson.

Townsend's Solitaires only carried over from the winter in the counties of Sherburne and Ramsey. Similarly, Varied Thrush could only be found in 3 counties, after 22 in the prior winter. Northern Mockingbirds were almost plentiful, with at least 13 individuals spread across nine counties. A Sage Thrasher in Hennepin was the twelfth state record, and the fourth for the county.

Two Yellow-throated Warblers were documented — one in Washington and a second county record for St. Louis. Two Prairie Warblers were found in the south. Two Worm-eating Warblers were in Hennepin, as were two Yellow-breasted Chats. A third chat was discovered in Winona.

Henslow's Sparrows were widespread in the south, and one ventured to Pennington for a first county record. The winter's Golden-crowned Sparrow in Duluth was rediscovered in late March/early April, but not until after the state's seventh record of this species showed up at a feeder in Dakota. Also in Dakota was an unusually far east Chestnut-collared Longspur among a flock of Laplands.

Summer Tanager numbers almost doubled those of the prior spring, and included first county records for Carver and Waseca, and unusual reports for Clearwater and Clay. Five Western Tanagers were found in the three far northwest counties, but only three could be found in the other 84 counties of the state. A carefully identified first spring male Blue Grosbeak in St. Louis was a pleasant surprise, as were two Lazuli Buntings at a feeder in Otter Tail. As the male disappeared from the feeder three days before the female, it's unlikely this twosome ever became a pair.

Brilliantly colored adult male Painted Buntings were photographed in — you guessed it — two counties. While Dickcissels generally don't arrive in the state until the last third of May, this year's first report was of an April bird in Nicollet. Another in Carlton was also notable.

The pattern of winter finches in the state mirrored what was seen in the prior winter. Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, and Evening Grosbeak numbers remained low. On the other hand, White-winged Crossbills were frequently found into mid-April. Common Redpolls were reported from 77 of 87 counties. Hoary Redpolls were also present in unusually high numbers until sightings of them ended abruptly around 10 April. Pine Siskins were found well into May, with numerous reports of nesting activities.

Weather summary: March was a very wet month in Minnesota. Central and northern parts of the state received triple the monthly norm, though the southeastern corner was well below average. Three major storms struck during the month: 10–11 March, 22–25 March, and 30 March – 1 April. Temperatures were near normal on average, though a low of -36ºF at Embarrass on 12 March, followed by a high of +69ºF in the city of Marshall four days later, illustrated the variability typical of the state.

April was rather dry across most of the state; this was especially welcome news for the Red River Basin which experienced major flooding in late March and into April. Temperatures were again near normal on average, with some record breaking high temperatures on 23–24 April in the southern half of the state.

May precipitation was again below normal — 1.5 to 2.5 inches across much of the state. Temperatures were mostly near or below average, though it did reach 100ºF in the west-central region on 19 May (to be followed by a low of 20ºF two days later in the northeast). The Red River finally fell below flood stage in mid-month, after being above that mark for 61 days.

Undocumented reports: Cinnamon Teal 4/17 Polk; White-faced Ibis 4/25 Big Stone (8); Yellow Rail 4/6 Fillmore; White-eyed Vireo 5/12 Hennepin; Marsh Wren 4/5 Ramsey; Gray-cheeked Thrush 4/15 Fillmore, Hubbard; Swainson's Thrush 4/14 Mower, 4/17 Hennepin; Gray Catbird 4/18 Morrison; Bobolink 4/22 Becker; Pine Grosbeak 5/22 St. Louis.

Acknowledgements: We thank Anthony Hertzel, Jeanie Joppru and Jim Lind for providing transcripts of Minnesota's weekly birding reports. Special thanks to Dave Cahlander for building and maintaining the seasonal reports submission web page (http://moumn.org/moureports/season.php). Medians of recent arrivals and departures were compiled and calculated by Paul Budde from published and unpublished seasonal report data from 1985 through 2008. A preliminary draft of this report was improved by comments from Peder H. Svingen and Karl J. Bardon. Finally and most importantly, our appreciation goes out to all our contributors. We are especially grateful to those who respond to our requests for details and who submit observations online.