Several Greater White-fronted and Ross's geese were early south arrivals in the state, but otherwise goose migration was typical. Tundra Swan numbers peaked in Houston in mid-November. Four Harlequin Ducks were found, all on Lake Superior. Long overdue was the first record of Surf Scoter for Lake of the Woods; away from Lake Superior individuals were also found in Beltrami, “inland” St. Louis, and three south counties. Both White-winged and Black scoters were found in each of the three counties along Gitche Gumee, plus four others. The only Barrow's Goldeneye of the fall was a drake on Lake Pepin in Goodhue.

About a dozen Red-throated Loons were found in Duluth between mid-October and mid-November, including a record high fall count of nine on 31 October. The only documented Pacific Loon of the season was also in Duluth. A census of Common Loons on Mille Lacs Lake in mid-October, usually a prime time and location to find large staging flocks, produced a paltry 509. Still, this tally was more than double the 239 censused during the prior fall. Though loon counts were down, that same census produced an impressive fall total of 68 Horned Grebes on the lake. A Clark's Grebe was reported from Lake Osakis, probably the most reliable location in the state for this Rare Regular species.

Long-legged waders were scarce this season. No Snowy Egrets or Little Blue Herons could be found, and only two Cattle Egrets, both in November. Black-crowned Night-Herons were very local, with reports from only two north and two south counties. One Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was detected, providing a first record for Mille Lacs. One ibis was also found; this subadult was prudently identified only to the Plegadis genus level.

Two Mississippi Kites were documented at Hawk Ridge in St. Louis; of the 24 Accepted fall records, 16 have been from the Ridge. The season's total of 164 Northern Goshawks suggests that 2012's count of 269 was indeed the peak of the most recent ten-year cycle. In his summary of the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory raptor census, Karl Bardon chronicles the rapid decline in these peak totals over the last forty years: 1972 (4,963), 1982 (3,535), 1992 (2,040), 2001 (1,107), 2012 (269). A similar decline in peaks has been seen at Derby Hill, NY, and Hawk Mountain, PA, so this phenomenon is not unique to Minnesota. Only two goshawks were detected south, one in Anoka and the other at the Bethany Hawkwatch in Blue Earth. Perhaps the most impressive raptor observation away from Hawk Ridge was the count of 151 Swainson's Hawks in Otter Tail, which is more than double the prior high count for this species. These birds were tallied by photographing the kettle and counting individuals afterwards.

Though not a record high, 6,500 Sandhill Cranes in Sherburne N.W.R. was quite impressive for a November total. American Golden-Plovers must have discovered a pretty good staging location in Steele in late August, as counts there exceeded 150 for 2½ weeks, and peaked at an amazing total of 800. That Whimbrel was absent from the state was not surprising, as there have been no fall records since 2008, but it was highly unusual that no one reported a Ruddy Turnstone. This is the first time this species has been absent in the fall since 1995. A juvenile Red Knot in St. Louis was, perhaps, slight compensation.

It was an excellent season for jaegers in Duluth. Parasitics began arriving in mid-August, and peaked with seven on 30 August and six on 21 September. A Long-tailed Jaeger, more easily seen at Wisconsin Point, wandered across Superior Entry into Minnesota waters on several days. Though no Pomarines were reported, perhaps that's really what that late Stercorarius was that couldn't be identified in early October.

Juvenile Sabine's Gulls were found in Beltrami, Cook, and St. Louis in the north, and Hennepin in the south. A Laughing Gull at Superior Entry in Duluth was the state's sixteenth record. Another Casual species of gull discovered was the first California Gull for Red Lake County. A Thayer's Gull on 20 September at Superior Entry was quite early. It was even more remarkable that this was a first-cycle gull, as this age group generally arrives well after after the first adults. Lesser Black-backed Gulls of all four age groups were located in Duluth; other Lessers were seen in Hennepin, Lyon, and Wadena. Only Duluth could produce Iceland and Great Black-backed gulls during the season, and Glaucous Gulls were limited to Duluth and Minneapolis. An adult Arctic Tern was beautifully photographed at Superior Entry, where all six fall records of this species have been seen.

Snowy Owls were found only north, arriving in the state in mid-November, 11 days later than usual — but wait for the winter report! Both Northern Hawk Owls and Great Gray Owls were found in small numbers, and no Boreal Owls were reported.

The second highest state count of Common Nighthawks occurred on 21 August when the Hawk Ridge/Lester River Census tallied 30,874. Bardon commented that 20,000 of these passed through in the last two hours of the day, as a continuous stream of nighthawks soared to the southwest between Hawk Ridge and Lake Superior. Recent efforts to count Chimney Swifts at late summer roosts are also producing excellent counts of this species.

Minnesota's fourth Lewis's Woodpecker was found on 6 November along the Lake of the Woods / Roseau county line, where it remained through the end of the season. Though no American Three-toed Woodpeckers were found, Black-backeds were seen in all three “Arrowhead” counties. The Pagami burn site in Lake was the best place to look for them.

Good numbers of Peregrine Falcons were tallied at Hawk Ridge in late September, their prime time for passage along the North Shore. Prairie Falcons were documented in Clay in September and November.

A total of 283 Eastern Kingbirds was tallied at Hawk Ridge on the same day as that remarkable Common Nighthawk count. A Black-billed Magpie was slightly out of range in Wadena, almost exactly a year after the county's first record of this species.

Estimates of Purple Martins and Barn Swallows at a pre-migratory roost on Bald Eagle Lake in Ramsey produced notable high counts. The remarkable tally of 21 Carolina Wrens during fall 2013 was not repeated this season, as only 3 individuals were found.

Mountain Bluebirds typically arrive in the state after mid-October, though occasionally in early October. Three individuals seen in St. Louis at the end of October fit that pattern, but one found in Marshall at the end of August was anomalous. The few recent August records of this species were a pair of females in Chippewa in 2006 and a male apparently paired with a female Eastern Bluebird in 1997. A very early Townsend's Solitaire was briefly seen in Hennepin in September; another at the Sand Dunes S.F. in Sherburne made it ten consecutive years for this species at that location. In early September, Bardon tallied impressive numbers of 34 Gray-cheeked and 500+ Swainson's thrushes during a pre-dawn flight. Given the difficulty of counting birds by flight calls in the dark, one can only wonder how many thrushes actually were moving down the North Shore those days. Four Varied Thrush were typical for the fall season, though one in Mower was quite early (the same day as that early solitaire in Hennepin!), and another in Pipestone was a first record for that county.

The distribution of Northern Mockingbird occurrences in Minnesota is curious. Though a “southern” species, these individuals can show up anywhere, and with surprising frequency in the extreme northern part of the state. During fall 2012, besides a report from Dakota, there were records from Roseau, Koochiching, and Cook. In fall 2013, there were again reports from Koochiching and Cook, both in November. A pair of American Pipits were record-early in Kandiyohi, while a Sprague's Pipit in Cottonwood provided the fifth record of this species in the last ten years. Though Bohemian Waxwings didn't make much of an incursion this fall, Cedar Waxwings migrated past Hawk Ridge in late August in near-record numbers.

Migrant warblers arrived in the southern half of the state about a week later than normal. A Black-throated Blue Warbler discovered in Cook was record-late north. For the third consecutive fall a Yellow-throated Warbler was found in the state, this time in Carver. This was also the fourth individual of this Casual species for the calendar year.

Two Spotted Towhees were found during October near the Twin Cities, but neither was relocated after its day of discovery. The only Summer Tanager for the season was an adult male that attended a feeding station in Kanabec during the first half of November. An impressive total of 107 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks tallied by the Hawk Ridge/Lester River Census set a new daily high count in mid-September. For the third consecutive fall, Dickcissels were widespread across the south. Great-tailed Grackles were only found in Jackson, their stronghold in the state.

The annual incursion of winter finches was abysmal, which, though bad for birders in the state, was probably good for the finches as they found adequate food farther north. During fall 2012, Pine Grosbeaks were located in 36 counties, while in 2013 they were only seen in 5! The Hawk Ridge/Lester River Census averaged over 900 Red Crossbills during the fall for 2007–2012; this year their total count was only 18! White-wingeds were only found in St. Louis, and the Hawk Ridge count could not produce any — despite an annual average of over 1,500 for the period 2007–2012. Common Redpolls were only seen north in Cook, while two southern counties produced a measly total of three individuals. And as might be expected in such a non-redpoll year, no Hoarys were found.

Weather: Most of the state experienced below-average rainfall in August and September, which, when combined with summer rainfall deficits, resulted in the reestablishment of drought conditions across a large part of the state. October totals were generally above historical averages, but November was another relatively dry month, with totals in many parts of the state at less than one-half inch of precipitation.

The major storms of the season were a severe thunderstorm that tracked from the Southwest through the East-central regions on 19 September and brought very heavy rain and damaging winds and hail; a rainstorm over the Southeast Region on 4–5 October that dropped two to six inches of rain; and the first major winter storm that dropped over four inches of snow on portions of the Southwest and Central regions on 5–6 November.

August began cooler than usual, and temperatures actually dropped below freezing in Embarrass, St. Louis County, on the 14^th, but from late August through early October temperatures were generally above the seasonal norms, and 3–5º (F) above normal during September. On balance, the end of October and November were below average. The lowest temperatures of the season were in the Northwest Region, where the thermometer dropped to –13º on 24 November at several locations.
Undocumented or insufficiently documented records of Regular species: Trumpeter Swan 11/27 Stearns (170 in agricultural field) (no details, habitat unlikely for this species); Pacific Loon 10/13 St. Louis (no details for this difficult ID); Eared Grebe 10/25 St. Louis (out of range, Horned Grebe far more likely); Northern Goshawk 8/6 Marshall (out of range), 8/28 Isanti (out of range or very early migrant); Swainson's Hawk 11/23 Lake of the Woods (extremely late migrant); White-rumped Sandpiper 8/14 Becker (no details, early date); Great Gray Owl 11/29 Clearwater (no details, out of range during a non-irruption year); Short-eared Owl 8/14 Kandiyohi (early date), 9/7 Hennepin (early date, description not conclusive); Prairie Falcon 11/10 Goodhue (out of range, description incomplete); Hermit Thrush 8/25 Goodhue (very early date); Western Meadowlark 10/27 Cook (no details, so included here as Sturnella species); Orchard Oriole 9/29 Douglas (very late date, certainly an immature oriole, but description doesn't rule out Baltimore).

Acknowledgments: We thank Anthony Hertzel, Jeanie Joppru, and Jim Lind for compiling and providing transcripts of Minnesota's three weekly birding reports. Special thanks to Dave Cahlander for building and maintaining the seasonal reports submission and production web pages 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 December 2013) and the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Project. Bruce Fall has been extremely helpful by providing additional information from eBird data. Medians of recent arrivals and departures are based on published and unpublished seasonal report data from 1985 through 2012. Our appreciation goes out to all our contributors, especially those who respond to our requests for details and who submit observations online. Finally, we recognize and thank Robert Dunlap for his service to the MOU in helping to author spring and fall seasonal reports from 2007 through Spring 2013, and with this report we welcome Andrew Nyhus to the team.