At the time of this writing in early March, my meteorlogical memories go no farther back than last week's extreme cold (with lows in excess of minus 40 in the north) which was followed by a raging blizzard which shut down most of the state. The good news about such savage winter weather is that it makes it easy to forget the excesses of last summer's extremes of heat and drought. But that's what I'm here for-it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it -to summarize the weather and its effects on 1988's breeding season.

Oddly enough, there was some cold weather news last summer, especially in north-

eastern Minnesota. Isabella managed a hard freeze 9 June with a low of 25~ with a 30° frost as late as 29 June. Then, just two days later, Duluth set an all-time July record with a low of 35~ But, of course, it was a lot hotter most of the time: even Duluth managed to rebound from that near-freezing 1 July to set record highs on eight July dates. It was much worse farther south, as these figures from the Twin Cities attest: by the end of the period, 31 July, no fewer than 34 days with a temperatures of 90° or higer were recorded; the previous summer record of 36 such dates was later shattered during August. Indeed, as our birding summer season ended 31 July, the high reached 105~ just three degrees shy of the all-time Twin Cities record. In all, there were four dates which reached 100~ which

tied the record set back in 194 7.

Just as devastating as the heat was the drought. Although northeastern Minnesota ended the year with normal or even above normal precipitation (thanks to a wet August), most of the state was extremely dry. Just 1. 7 inches of rain fell on the Twin Cities during June and July, and by 31 July flowage levels on the Mississippi River were only about a third of the levels on the same date in 1987.

Needless to say, wetlands drie<;l up all over the state, with obvious detrimental effects on water birds. But even species partial to terrestrial habitats were adversely affected as both insect-eaters and vegetarians found both bugs and buds in scarce supply, and there were certainly many nest and brood failures. While the drought was good news for mosquito-hating humans, the bad news was that warblers and other birds thrive on such insects. Once again, for the third consecutive year, such birds fled south prematurely in mid and late July, presumably because of a warm spring encouraging early nesting and a hot, dry summer discouraging nesting success.

One can only assume that the weather tended to keep most birders home in front of their air conditioners, and coverage throughout the state must have suffered. However, almost 900 nest or brood cards were submitted, about 100 or more than in 1987, (although in both the 1986 and 1987 summers well over 1,000 cards were turned in). Breeding was confirmed for only 154 species, compared with 159 in 1987, and a lot fewer than the 170 + such records in 1983, 1985 and 1986. Nestor Hiemenz and Jack Sprenger are

to be commended this season for ignoring the heat and turning up 166 and 107 nesting records respectively.

It is unfortunate that so many birders tended to stay home since, in spite of-or because of? -the heat and drought, it was an eventful season. The biggest news involved the unprecedented Dickcissel invasion, as described in The Loon 60: 143-144.

One is probably safe in assuming that other grassland species also moved farther north and east than normal for the same reasons as the Dickcissel. The now-casual Sprague's Pipit wandered east as far as Aitkin County, and actual nesting was recorded in Polk County, one of the very few such records ever in the state. Similarly, a few Lark Buntings turned up (including one in Aitkin County); Baird's Sparrows were found at Felton Prairie for the first time in eight years; Grasshopper Sparrows were unexpected in northeastern Minnesota; and Henslow's Sparrows wandered north as far as Hubbard and (where else?) Aitkin Counties.

Other highlights included: a Mute Swan nest with one young fledged in Duluth, a first nesting record for the state (whether this is good news or bad I leave up to the reader to decide) ; the Bald Eagle nest on the shores of Lac qui Parle Lake and the Peregrine nest found by rock climbers at Palisade Head on the North Shore of Lake Superior; a few Rough-legged Hawks apparently summering for reasons unknown at Rice Lake NWR and the Sax-Zim bog; the return of Northern Bobwhites to Blue Mounds in the southwestern comer of the state; the eight nesting pairs of the endangered Piping Plover clinging to life on Pine-Curry Islands (but once again the species was absent from Duluth); the Northern Hawk-Owl family and possible Threetoed Woodpecker nesting pair, both in Lake County and both seen during the American Birding Association convention; a fifth state record Sage Thrasher in Minneapolis; a singing Blue Grosbeak way out of range up at Felton Prairie (but did it wander north from Rock County or east from the Missouri River valley of northern South Dakota?); and those House Finches which continued to solidify their presence in the state, especially in the Twin Cities where it seems likely undetected nesting has already occurred. Also note the possible sighting of Clark's Grebe (this and all records of this species are currently being

reviewed); and the well-documented record ofWestem Sandpiper. (The status and identification of this "regular" species is also under current review.)

The format for the species accounts is the same as the previous three summer reports, which were so ably written by Steve Wilson and Mary Shedd; Finally, thanks is due Parker Backstrom who compiled most of the nest and brood cards.