Minnesota’s first Accepted Cassin’s Sparrow in Two Harbors, perhaps arriving with a series of strong late-September storms hitting the Northeast, was the star of the season. Other reports of Accidentals included the state’s fifth Northern Wheatear, sixth Neotropic Cormorant that lingered from its summer arrival, and thirtieth Rock Wren.

Mute Swans continue to expand their presence in the state from their stronghold on the Great Lakes and along the Mississippi River. This season saw first records for Pipestone and Watonwan counties. A possible Cinnamon Teal in Clay County was not sufficiently described to distinguish it from a hybrid with Blue-winged Teal. The ratio of presumed pure Cinnamons to hybrids occurring in the state is about 5 to 1, so while it was likely a pure bird, the hybrid possibility is not insignificant. 

Doppler radar in Duluth picked up a huge signal one morning in mid-October that the weather team feared might have been due to a large fire in Aitkin County. Instead, it was caused by an estimated 670,000 Ring-necked Ducks taking flight when an airboat was used at the Rice Lake N.W.R. as part of their waterfowl survey. As impressive as this total was, the next week’s survey tallied 882,000 Ring-neckeds! This season’s southbound scoter migration totals were among the lowest of the past ten seasons for all three species. In the last six fall seasons, the only Barrow’s Goldeneye found was one harvested on Leech Lake in 2018.

Tying the earliest south date on record was a pair of Horned Grebes discovered in Hennepin County in early August. Over 4,000 Chimney Swifts going into a roost at Mahtomedi High School set a new high count for the state. All of our highest tallies of these swifts have occurred in the narrow window 25–29 August. For only the fourth time ever, multiple Rufous Hummingbirds were documented in the state in a single year; this year’s two birds were seen in Le Sueur and Dakota counties. The Sherburne N.W.R. Sandhill Crane Census shattered its 2017 record of 11,286 birds when this team tallied 14,578 cranes at the end of October.

This was the best fall season ever recorded for American Avocets with sightings from 11 counties, many from the southeastern quarter of the state. A Marbled Godwit lingering at the North Ottawa Impoundment broke the late north record of this species by over a month. Parasitic Jaegers, all singles, were spotted sporadically at Park Point in Duluth between mid-August and mid-October, with most reports coming from the middle two weeks of September. Five Sabine’s Gulls, all first-cycles, graced the state during the last week of September and the first week of October and provided Cottonwood and Murray counties with first records. A second-cycle California Gull was seen over several days at the Superior Entry in early November. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were reported in typical numbers, while Great Black-backeds were absent.

Red-throated Loons are unusual anytime in the southern half of the state, but especially so during the fall. One in Minneapolis in mid-October was the first south fall report since 1994. Three Pacific Loons were discovered along the North Shore; another provided a first record for Traverse County. The Neotropic Cormorant that was found in Hennepin County in late July lingered until the middle of August.

The eighth state and second fall record of Black Vulture was spotted by counters at the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, the same location where the first state record was discovered in August 2001 (The Loon 74:63–65). Otherwise, most raptor species were tallied in below-average numbers. Notable exceptions were the season totals of Bald Eagle up 66%, Golden Eagle up 36%, and Peregrine Falcon up 82%. Two Barn Owls were documented in the Southeast in early October when one was found deceased along a road in southern Olmsted County and the other was audio-taped in Houston County. 

American Three-toed Woodpeckers were found in four counties, the most for a fall season since 2007. Black-backeds were found in their traditional Northeast and North-central range, plus one individual that wandered south to the Sherburne N.W.R.

A pair of Say’s Phoebes had been near Browns Valley in Traverse during the first half of June. They were not reported for the rest of the summer, but one was refound in early August at the same abandoned farmstead. Another Say’s in Grand Marais was the second latest migrant ever. Loggerhead Shrikes were only found at a single location in Dakota County this season, resulting in the fewest fall reports of this Minnesota Endangered Species since 1988. About nine out of every ten White-eyed Vireos found in Minnesota have occurred in the spring or summer, and of those discovered in the fall, the majority appear in late October or November. So, one in Ramsey County in early September was particularly unusual.

In addition to the usual reports of Tufted Titmouses in the Southeast, one wandered west to Freeborn where it was seen for over a month. A Rock Wren was at the Minnesota Valley N.W.R. Visitors Center in early October, the exact same location one was found in May 1997 (The Loon 70:122). Approximately 17 Carolina Wrens were found in nine south counties, the most fall reports since 2012.

The fifth state record Northern Wheatear was a first for Wright County; like three of the four prior records, it was gone the next day. With reports only from Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties, Bohemian Waxwings made their poorest fall showing since 1976. A Eurasian Tree Sparrow was seen at a rural Dakota County feeding station in late November, the same feeders where one overwintered in 2014–2015.

But for the well-known feeders at Mary Jo’s just northwest of the Sax-Zim Bog, very few Evening Grosbeaks would have been reported this season. Pine Grosbeaks were also scarce as only one flock of more than two birds was reported. There were very few reports of Common Redpolls, and none of Hoarys. Red Crossbills were more common than in most falls, but nowhere near as plentiful as in 2017 and 2012, and White-winged Crossbills were also more scarce than usual.

Almost 40 Smith’s Longspurs were reported in October, all from Cottonwood and Lyon counties. The first state record Cassin’s Sparrow was photographed in Two Harbors in late September (The Loon 92:47–48). Several birders who were wandering around Two Harbors searching for the Cassin’s Sparrow stumbled upon a Lark Bunting. Field Sparrows were found farther north than usual in Roseau and Lake counties this season. Spotted Towhees were found in Eveleth and Hastings.

The only Yellow-breasted Chat was a holdover from summer seen again at Afton State Park. The only report of a Great-tailed Grackle came from Lyon County where three were seen in mid-October.

In mid-November a very late Black-and-white Warbler was found at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. Eleven Prothonotary Warblers at a marsh in La Crescent almost doubled the prior fall season high tally.

Weather: August temperatures were moderate, with few days in the 90ºs and month averages just slightly below normal. September was almost 3ºF above average, though at the end of the month temperatures in the Iron Range dropped below freezing. October and November were 2–3ºF below average. The coldest day of the season was -21ºF at Isabella in Lake County on the 12th of November.

Documented Records Still Under Review: Mountain Bluebird 10/13 Cook (Taconite Harbor).

Insufficiently Documented Records of Regular Species: Trumpeter Swan 10/24 Aitkin (300) (possibly Tundra Swans?); Cinnamon Teal 8/5 Clay (possibility of hybridization not considered); White-rumped Sandpiper 8/11 Olmsted, 8/13 Benton (early dates; reports of this species prior to 8/15 without details are not published); Warbling Vireo 10/19 Hubbard (late date); Orange-crowned Warbler 8/31 Kittson, Olmsted (early date; reports of this species prior to 9/1 without details are not published).

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 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 2019). Bruce Fall has been extremely helpful by providing additional information from eBird reports. Medians of recent arrivals and departures are based on published and unpublished seasonal report data over the 25-year period 1994 through 2018. Our appreciation goes out to all our contributors, especially those who respond to our requests for details and who submit observations online.