The state’s third Tufted Duck, seventh Brambling (which lingered from the winter season), third and fourth Bullock’s Orioles, third Kirtland’s Warbler (the first in 75 years!), and ninth Black-throated Gray Warbler headlined an excellent spring season. Other highlights included an incredible tally of Yellow Rails at McGregor Marsh and surprisingly high numbers of such Casual species as Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Lazuli Bunting.

Geese arrived in the state a little later than normal, undoubtedly due to the cold end to winter and beginning of spring. A drake Cinnamon Teal was a first for Hubbard County, while a drake Eurasian Wigeon was the fourth for St. Louis County; the most recent one was 2014 (Tustison 2014). The state’s third Tufted Duck — all found within a 16-month period — was discovered at the Albany W.T.P. in Stearns County. Sea ducks were unimpressive, especially in the south where only one Surf Scoter and one White-winged Scoter could be found.

The first arrivals of each of the state’s six species of grebes were all later than the median of recent arrival dates, from several days to almost two weeks. Three species provided first county records: Red-necked in Pipestone, Western in Winona, and Clark’s in Waseca. With the Pipestone record, Red-necked Grebes have now been found in all 87 counties.

White-winged Doves suddenly began appearing consistently in Minnesota in 2003. Since then, they’ve been recorded every year except 2013. Usually, this has been only one or occasionally two records in a season. This spring, however, there were five individuals: first county records for Hennepin and Faribault, a second bird in Hennepin, and a pair of doves in Two Harbors!

The tallies of Yellow Rails at McGregor Marsh in Aitkin County this May were very impressive. While this site has been reliable for this species since the early 1970s (Savaloja 1984), numbers present seem to vary significantly from year to year. This season produced the highest total ever when 70 were reported in mid May and 50 a few nights later. These totals only have been exceeded in the state by a researcher’s estimate of “100s” from Waubun Marsh, Mahnomen County, in spring 1972.

Three Black-necked Stilts graced the state; one was a first for Goodhue County. They marked the eighth consecutive spring this barely Casual species has been found in Minnesota. Other first county shorebird records included Piping Plover in Watonwan, Upland Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone in Kanabec, and a Short-billed Dowitcher in Wadena. Thirteen Red Knots across three counties was a good total for this Casual species.

Only one Little Gull was seen — naturally enough, in Duluth. If St. Louis County records were excluded, this now-Regular species would be Accidental in the state. All Iceland Gulls for which the subspecies was noted were “Thayer’s” type. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were found in nine counties, a record high number. Four Great Black-backed Gulls were spotted, two in Duluth and two along the lower Mississippi River.

All Red-throated Loons this spring were found in Duluth, beginning in late April and continuing into the summer. An estimated high count of 100 on 10 May was the fourth highest spring total. A total of three Pacific Loons, two in Duluth and one in Aitkin County, was the highest tally ever for spring, and 459 Common Loons at Park Point was the second highest spring count for this species.

A Least Bittern found in Houston County on 1 May tied an early arrival date record set in 1898 (Roberts 1932). Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, and White-faced Ibis reports were down, but an adult Little Blue Heron near Frontenac was a pleasant discovery. This last species is only reported in about half the spring seasons. Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are also seen every other spring; this season they went undetected.

The West Skyline Hawk Count in Duluth set new records for spring totals of Turkey Vulture (2,765), Bald Eagle (7,727), and Golden Eagle (212). The totals for the two eagles broke prior records set in 2018, with Bald Eagles up 41% and Goldens up 32% over that season.

Snowy Owls were present in average numbers; all of them departed by the end of March. Northern Hawk Owl and Great Gray Owl numbers were both below average for spring, and no Boreal Owls were reported.

During spring 1969, there were only two reports of Peregrine Falcon in the state (Herz and Tyron 1969). Fifty years later, they were found in 51 counties — one more sign of the remarkable recovery this species has made. Two Prairie Falcons were found, the first for Brown County and the eleventh for Polk.

Four Say’s Phoebes, all from the western edge of the state, was an excellent total — only perhaps exceeded by the four or five found in the spring of 2013. Common Ravens continued their slow push southwards, while Tufted Titmouses moved up the St. Croix and Minnesota river valleys. Carolina Wrens went unreported for the first spring since 2011. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher provided a first record for Lake of the Woods County.

Townsend’s Solitaires were scarce, with reports only from late March in Washington County and from late April in Becker County. Four Varied Thrushes was the highest spring total since 2013. Twelve Northern Mockingbirds was also an excellent total; all were found along the southern or eastern sides of the state. Eurasian Tree Sparrows were found in the state for the seventh consecutive spring, with seven (!) individuals spread across four counties.

The state’s seventh Brambling, first seen in late January, made very sporadic appearances in spring at the same feeding station in Becker County until 4 April. Winter finch numbers were fairly typical when compared against the most recent ten-year average. Each species was present in decent numbers, but not exceptional in any way — except that for the first time Pine Siskins were recorded in all 87 Minnesota counties.

A lone Chestnut-collared Longspur was reported from Felton Prairie on only two consecutive days in mid-May. Approximately 72 Smith’s Longspurs were seen or heard, all between mid-April and mid-May.

Lark Sparrows were more widely reported than in any previous spring. Chipping Sparrows are overwintering in progressively greater numbers, making the detection of early spring arrivals much more difficult. A record high number of northbound Clay-colored Sparrows was tallied at Felton Prairie in mid May. Dark-eyed Juncos from the “Oregon” group of subspecies were reported from 16 counties. Henslow’s Sparrow reports were down slightly from the prior spring’s exceptional total, but still ranked as the third highest spring total ever. One report of a Spotted Towhee in Lyon kept a streak alive; this Rare Regular species has now been reported in eleven consecutive spring seasons.

An adult male Bullock’s Oriole was discovered in Sleepy Eye in mid May. For many it proved to be difficult to find, but with perseverance many did see this third state record during its five days in town. Remarkably, a first-year male also appeared in Wilmar eight days after the initial Brown County record. Great-tailed Grackles were seen in six of the ten Southwest region counties, though nowhere else.

Golden-winged Warblers were reported from 72 counties, the most ever. Prothonotary Warbler is Accidental in the northern half of the state, so individuals in both Hubbard and Marshall counties were surprises; neither of these, though, were first county records. Kentucky Warblers were found in Dakota and Rice counties; neither bird lingered past the day of discovery. Hooded Warblers provided a first record for Blue Earth County and a third for Cook.

A Kirtland’s Warbler discovered at Park Point R.A. was only the third record for the state, the first two being from 1892 (Guilford 1893) and 1944 (Hiemenz 1980), making this a once-every-sixty-three-years event! Hopefully, with the recent breeding success of this species in Wisconsin, we won’t have to wait as long for the next Kirtland’s.

Black-throated Blue Warblers were also detected more often than usual in the southwestern quarter of the state — perhaps lending credence to the theory that the increase in Golden-winged Warbler reports is due at least in part to better coverage in this section of the state. Yellow-throated Warblers were found for the seventh consecutive year in Whitewater State Park, for the second time in Ramsey County, and for the third time in Duluth. A Prairie Warbler in Houston County was only the second spring record of this species over the past ten years. A Black-throated Gray Warbler in Dakota County was the ninth for the state.

The Cardinalidae family was well-represented this season. Eighteen Summer Tanagers was an excellent total, and included first county records for Cass and Itasca. Thirteen Western Tanagers was the most in a season since spring 1995. Five Lazuli Buntings was the second highest spring total ever and included a first record for Le Sueur County. A male Painted Bunting in Blue Earth was also a first county record. Of the birds in this family on the state checklist, only Black-headed Grosbeak was missing.

Weather: The entire spring season was colder and wetter than normal. March began quite cold, with high temperatures in many locations sub-zero (F). There was a mid-month thaw, but by the end of March temperatures were again about five degrees below normal. In the second half of April some cities saw temperatures in the mid-80s, but that warmth couldn’t overcome the coolness of the rest of the month and April’s statewide average temperature was also below normal. Lake ice-out dates ran about a week late. The cool trend continued with May falling 4.5 degrees short of normal, though at the end of the month some Northwest and West-central cities were basking in the 90s.

A snowstorm dropped 3–6" of snow across southern Minnesota on 1 March. On the ninth another storm with a mix of snow and rain hit southern Minnesota. In mid-April another storm brought almost ten inches of snow to the Twin Cities, and twice that amount to portions of the western part of the state. A storm on 8–9 May brought almost 11" of snow to Duluth — a record amount for the city in that month. Another 2" of precipitation fell on the East-central region on 18–20 May.

Insufficiently documented records of Regular species: Long-billed Dowitcher 5/16 Dakota (20) (high count for a late date); Lesser Black-backed Gull 4/3 Freeborn (first county record), Swainson’s Hawk 3/18 Steele (early date); Eastern Wood-Pewee 4/19 Anoka, 4/19 Ramsey, 4/20 Nicollet (early dates); Eastern Phoebe 3/1 Mower (early date); Black-billed Magpie 4/23 McLeod (out of range); Swainson’s Thrush 3/1 Mower (early date); Savannah Sparrow 3/7 Fillmore (early date); Tennessee Warbler 4/8 Olmsted, 4/23 McLeod (2) (early dates); Cape May Warbler 4/23 Dakota (early date); Palm Warbler 3/22 Rice (early date).

Acknowledgments: We thank Jeanie Joppru for compiling and providing transcripts of the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report. 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 2019). Medians of recent arrivals and departures are based on published and unpublished Seasonal Report data from the 25-year period 1994 through 2018. 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.