The warm wet spring of 1986 was followed by a fairly wet summer with near normal temperatures throughout the state. Precipitation was above average in all regions except the northwest. In June the northeast, east central, and south central regions received the most rain, about 25% above normal, while in July the west central, central, and southern regions were about 35 - 45 % wetter than normal.

With this ample spring and summer rainfall water levels over most of the state were high and Jed to some flooded out nests and late starts for some waterfowl. On the other hand, saturated soils and excessive rainfall contributed to the creation of wetland habitat in some parts of the state.

During the season 57 observers and the statewide Breeding Bird Surveys reported 267 species (this does not include Trumpeter Swans, Peregrine Falcons, or Northern Bobwhites, all likely releases), second only to 1983 ' s total of 271. Observer coverage of the state seemed to improve over last year.

AIJ contributors deserve a pat on the back for this, among them AI Bolduc whose record keeping abilities must rival those of the Census Bureau with the number of counties he reports from. A listing by region of the number of species seen shows that no region was neglected. The number of birds reported from each region roughly paralJels expected breeding bird diversity, i.e., increasing from the north to the southwest. The northwest region reported the highest number of species ( 194), followed by the north central (185), northeast (181), central ( 157), east central (155), south central (144), southeast (142), west central (135), and southwest (127) regions.

Holes in coverage did occur at the county level, where low species totals were reported for two isolated counties, Chisago (9) and Lincoln (0!), and for several small clusters of counties: Goodhue (3), Dodge (4), Steele (6), and Waseca (4) in the southeast and south central regions; Carver (14), McCleod (0!), Renville (2), and Kandiyohi (5) in the central ; Wilkin (18), Traverse (I), Grant (14), and Douglas (5) in the west central; Norman (3) and Mahnomen (6) in the northwest.

An abundance of rare birds this summer provided some very exciting birding. Among the many unusual sightings were an amazing three new state records: a Mountain Plover in Faribault County, a Common Blackheaded Gull in Jackson County, and especial ly a Sandwich Tern in Duluth. Other rarities reported were: a Tricolored Heron at Agassiz NWR; five ibises at North Heron Lake in Jackson County; a Mute Swan in Duluth, only the second summer record for the state; a Snowy Plover in Clay County; two Laughing Gulls in Fillmore County in mid-June; Least Terns seen in Duluth and Olmsted County; the first summer sighting in at least ten years of a pair of Carolina Wrens; a Sage Thrasher at Carlos Avery Refuge; a White-eyed Vireo in Martin County; and a Baird's Sparrow in Crow Wing County.

Other seasonal highlights include several regular summer residents unusually far out of their ranges: a Bufflehead seen mid-summer at Carlos A very Refuge; a Marbled Godwit in Duluth; a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in July in Meeker County; and a Henslow 's Sparrow in Aitkin County. There were quite a few unusually late spring migrants seen in June. Among unusually early fall migrants were a American Golden-Plover in Faribault County, Greater Yellow legs in Marshall and Olmsted Counties, a Northern Phalarope in Clay County, and a number of warblers including Tennessee, Nashville, and Chestnutsided.

Some other notable observations were: the first sightings in four summers of Long and Short-eared Owls; the scarcity of American American Black Ducks, Green-winged Teal, Canvasbacks, and Red-shouldered Hawks; an increase in the number and/or distribution of Canada Geese, Grasshopper Sparrows, and Pine Siskins; and again there were no reports of Little Blue Herons, Burrowing Owls, or wild Northern Bobwhites.

Another excellent effort by nest and brood card contributors produced nesting evidence for 171 species (including the Trumpeter Swan), a number equal to that of 1983 and second only to last year's high of 177. Contributors sent I 082 cards describing 1444 colonies, nests, or broods. Additionally, reports of at least 100 nests or broods were included on seasonal reports. This valuable breeding documentation, with many county first records, is steadily increasing our knowledge of Minnesota's breeding bird population.

This year's champion nest finders were the indefatigable Nestor Hiemenz and Jack Sprenger, along with Shelley and Keith Steva, Mark and Jean Newstrom, Forest and Kirsten Strnad, and Mark Moore. Special mention goes to Frank Swendsen for his effort in filling the gap on breeding documentation in Koochiching County with 16 new records of positive nesting. All of these records were of fairly common summer residents, a good illustration of the paucity of breeding records for some areas of the state.

Among the nesting highlights of the summer of 1986 were: first state nesting records for Little Gull (in Jackson County) and Mountain Bluebird (which paired with an Eastern Bluebird female in Aitkin County); Snowy Egrets at Agassiz NWR; Buffleheads nesting at Agassiz for the second year in a row; and the growing success of the Eastern Bluebird Recovery Project. A discouraging note was the poor success again of Piping Plovers at Pine and Curry Islands, where only nine young were produced by eleven pairs, and at Duluth there were no breeding pairs at all.

The style used in summarizing the species accounts is the same as was used last year (The Loon 58:21-23) with two exceptions.

This year we used Duluth (and vicinity) and Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge when these were the only locations in which a species was seen in St. Louis and Marshall Counties respectively. This was done for Duluth because St. Louis is so large and many birds seen in Duluth aren't seen elsewhere in the county. It was done for Agassiz NWR because it is the western edge of many forest species' ranges. The other exception is that this year counties in which positive nesting was documented for the first time since 1970 are in bold italics, with the boldface type reserved for unusual locations or dates. And on the subject of nesting records, we would like to encourage observers to go back and read the criteria for differentiating positive from probable nesting (The Loon 58:22), and to keep these criteria in mind when completing nest or brood cards. This will help compilers to more readily distinguish between positive and probable nesting.

Finally, filling out seasonal report forms can be tedious, mind-numbing work and the forms almost encourage errant entries. We encourage contributors to double-check their completed forms, especially for sightings entered on the wrong line. Eliminating this common error will speed completion of Season reports and increase their accuracy.