Ross's Geese were found in 21 counties, down from 25 in 2007. Cackling Geese, on the other hand, were located in almost half the counties — up from only 31 in 2007. Minnesota's sixteenth Brant loitered in Duluth for a week in late May. Two Cinnamon Teal, one each in Hennepin and Polk, stayed for only a day in April. One of two Barrow's Goldeneyes found in the Southeast during the winter lingered into the spring season.

Up to 20 Red-throated Loons were observed from Park Point. The only other report of this species was from Lake Osakis. Pacific Loons were also found off of Park Point, with one record early report from Olmsted. Late ice-out caused loons and grebes to accumulate in large numbers in the Twin Cities in mid-April, and probably led to the high counts that appeared in the north towards month's end. One Clark's Grebe was discovered farther east than normal in Blue Earth County.

As during last spring, only one Little Blue Heron and no Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were discovered. A Cattle Egret produced a first county record for Clearwater. A total of four White-faced Ibis was reported from two locations, while another five individuals were prudently left unidentified as to species.

The second state record White-tailed Kite was nicely photographed in Mower, though it disappeared later that same day. Another one-day wonder was an adult Mississippi Kite at the Bass Ponds in Hennepin. Marshall hosted a Ferruginous Hawk and another was seen along the Mississippi River bluffs in Stearns/Sherburne. A Prairie Falcon was found in Chippewa.

Piping Plovers were distributed across the state — in Brown, Polk, and St. Louis. A Black-necked Stilt near Wilmar and the first Long-billed Curlew for Big Stone were both seen only one day. Whimbrels were located only in the Northeast, including 78 on Paradise Beach in Cook. The four highest state counts of this species have all been from Cook in late May.

Aside from first county records of Little and Glaucous Gulls in the West-central region, the most interesting gulls were all from St. Louis where Lesser Black-backed, Slaty-backed, and Great Black-backed Gulls were all seen. Surprisingly, Virginia competed with Duluth for the gull hot spot in this county, with two intriguing reports of unidentified dark-mantled gulls in addition to Iceland Gull and Great Black-backed Gull.

With reports from 22 counties, Eurasian Collared-Doves are clearly continuing their expansion. And yet another White-winged Dove appeared in Cook — the third in that county in the last six years. A Burrowing Owl located near Moorhead made this the sixth year of the last seven in which this species has been recorded in the state.

A Say's Phoebe graced Grand Marais briefly in April. It was one of only three Casual passerines to be found this season. Tufted Titmice were found as far north as Anoka, and as far west as Martin. Surprisingly, Carolina Wrens were only reported from Ramsey. A male Mountain Bluebird was found associating with Easterns in Meeker. Three each of Townsend's Solitaire and Varied Thrush were found statewide. Down from 21 reports in Spring 2006 and 12 last spring were 9 reports of Northern Mockingbird.

At the Dodge Nature Center in Dakota, a Yellow-throated Warbler was a nice surprise. Cerulean Warbler reports were consistent in number with the prior spring — good news for this struggling species. Four Kentucky Warblers were located in May, while the lone Yellow-breasted Chat of the season was in Mower.

Eight Summer Tanagers were a nice showing, as were six Western Tanagers — all but one of the latter appearing in a brief window in mid-May. A male Lazuli Bunting in Hennepin didn't linger. Five Hoary Redpolls were more than usual for the spring. Great-tailed Grackles were confined to the southern border counties.

Weather summary: Mean temperatures throughout the season were three to six degrees below normal. Lake ice-out lagged about one to two weeks behind historical averages, which impacted waterfowl migration, and cool temperatures in May — including below freezing temperatures as late as 28 May in northern Minnesota — postponed many of the normal signs of spring.

On the precipitation side, below average snowfall from the second half of winter continued into March, though this changed in April due primarily to four significant snow storms which prolonged winter weather in the state. In May precipitation returned to normal levels, except for the Northwest where rainfall remained below normal.

Undocumented reports: Snowy Egret 4/23 Ramsey (4); Northern Goshawk 5/11 Faribault; Long-billed Dowitcher 5/24 Mower; Lesser Black-backed Gull 3/30 Lac Qui Parle; Common Tern 4/12 Mower, 4/16 Hennepin, 4/16 St. Louis; Connecticut Warbler 5/11 Lac Qui Parle (Big Stone N.W.R.), 5/14 Yellow Medicine (Upper Sioux Agency S.P.); Eastern Towhee 4/9 Mille Lacs; Nelson's Sparrow 4/16 Hennepin, 5/11 Big Stone, 5/15 Lac Qui Parle, 5/22 Chippewa; Rusty Blackbird 5/28 Rice; Eastern Meadowlark 5/8 Big Stone.

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 2007. 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.