The Breeding Birds of Minnesota Review

 

Bird lists and bird collecting in the United States can be traced back 200 years or more in the exploits of explorers and early naturalists like Lewis and Clark and Alexander Wilson. Large, organized bird surveys came more recently including the well known Christmas Bird Count started in 1900. By the second half of the 20^th century worries about loss of wildlife and habitat were growing. A nationwide scientific assessment of bird populations was designed and initiated by Chandler Robbins in 1966 in the form of the Breeding Bird Survey done every year across the country to track changes in bird populations.

State breeding bird surveys were encouraged by Robbins and in 1974 the first collection of data at a state level was done in Massachusetts 1974-1978. The first printed breeding birds atlas was published by the state of Vermont in 1985 based on a survey of the state done from 1976-1980. This year Minnesota joins the party by publishing The Breeding Birds of Minnesota, History, Ecology and Conservation authored by Pfannmuller, Niemi and Green. The book is based on data collected by hundreds of individuals over 5 years from 2009-2013. The original use of these data was to construct an online Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas in 2017. Many people (me included) hoped for a published book right away. I had seen the wonderful BBA that Wisconsin had printed in 2006 (they are due to publish their second BBA in 2025) and thought we should have something as good if not better. A number of hurdles, not the least of which was funding, were finally overcome and book came to fruition. The wait was certainly worth it.

The Breeding Birds of Minnesota, all 685 pages of it, is BEAUTIFUL. It's not what some people may expect. This book doesn't address species that are only here in the non-breeding season or are only seen as they pass through the state in migration. This book isn't an identification guide and this book definitely isn't something to carry into the field on a hike. What this book is, is an in depth look at the 250 species of birds that breed within our state borders from both an historical and modern day perspective.

There are 4 sections that make up the the book. However, I would encourage readers to read both the Forward by Dr. Francesca Cuthbert and the Introduction to set up some context before diving into the main sections. The first 3 sections are foundational. 

Section 1 Introduces the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas and how the survey was designed and carried out. This addresses data collection, data summaries and some of the highlights in the survey.

Section 2 is a really nice introduction to the biogeography of the birds in Minnesota. If the reader has any familiarity with the Minnesota DNR Ecological Classification System they will recognize maps and habitats described here. 

Section 3 describes how to read the species descriptions providing explanations and definitions for many of the terms used in the species accounts. This is especially helpful in keeping a lot of the acronyms used straight.

Section 4 is the bulk of the book and, to most readers, will be the most interesting part. These are the species accounts and the organizational layout makes this section very easy to use. The species covered are arranged phylogenetically like a field guide. Each species account covers 2 facing pages and are about 1500 words long. Some species of special interest have longer accounts of approximately 3000 words. A photo of the bird is included. There are maps for every species that show the breeding range in Minnesota as discovered in the atlas effort. The text covers 4 topics: 1) Breeding distribution, 2) Breeding habitat with an accompanying photo, 3) Population abundance including a graph of population trends for some species and 4) Conservation overview which for many species is maybe the most important section when it comes to management.

Finally, the Acknowledgements section and Appendices should be read. These often feel like add ons but the appendices are a source of analysis that is eye opening and the section listing all the individuals who participated in this effort makes you realize what a huge project this was.

I have very few quibbles with this book. I would have liked the maps to be a bit larger but that would be at the sacrifice of text. The maps are still accessible in a larger size on the original atlas website (mnbirdatlas.org). A few of the species photos feel a little small but, again, making them bigger would have cost something else. Some people may see the price of this book and think it is too expensive at $60 but a book of this quality could easily have pushed $100. This book is a deal.

This is a project of which the people of Minnesota (and not just birders) can be proud and I hope everyone interested in birds and or conservation will purchase a copy. I have a small personal criticism in that my name is misspelled in the participant list (I even sent an e-mail to have it fixed on the website). Maybe it can be corrected if and when The Breeding Birds of Minnesota II is published in the not too distant future.

Solar Eclipse 2024

 I've been back from chasing the eclipse for a few days now and after taking a look at the photos I brought back I thought I'd post a few. I'm going to arrange them chronologically, pre to post totality. I've enlarged a couple of photos to show more detail of some interesting finds.

The beginning of the eclipse event was about 12:45 local time in our southern Illinois location. We were about 30-40 miles southeast of Effingham, IL. The exact location was a wayside south of Newton, IL.

This is the "first bite" as the moon began to cross the sun.

A close up of the photo shows 3 small sunspots on the surface of the sun. An active sunspot period can have many more spots.

 The above series of shots shows the progression of the moon over the sun. The last photo I turned the camera slightly. The reddish haze is, I believe, caused by some high thin clouds that were passing overhead.

Totality, the 4 minute experience we drove 1200 miles round trip for. It was totally worth it.

Enlarging the photo revealed 3 flairs on the surface of the sun that could only be seen during this stage of the eclipse. Look at bottom of moon and on the right above the "diamond".

The beginning of the end. It was at this point most people jumped in their cars to beat traffic out of the area. We stayed a bit longer to watch the sun uncover.

I always marvel at how quickly the whole thing goes. By the time the slightest sliver of sun is visible again it feels like everything is back to normal. The entire transit takes about 2.5 hours but the change in temp and the return of the animal activity seemed like someone threw a switch.

The next eclipse that I would consider chasing is in 2044 and I'd have to got to North Dakota. I'd also be 87 years old so we'll see.

Brewster's Warbler

 Hybrid birds, while unusual, are more common than most people think. Some bird groups show more hybridization than others. This would include ducks and gulls for example. There are well known hybrids from songbirds too. This bird is a “Brewster’s” Warbler, a cross between a Golden-winged Warbler and a Blue-winged Warbler. This pairing also produces a hybrid called a “Lawrence’s” Warbler.

Because Minnesota has a large breeding population of both parent species finding hybrids does occur regularly but catching and banding one is pretty rare. At my first glance of the bird when I pulled it out of the bird bag it gave me pause and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking at. But a quick consultation with a field guide confirmed our suspicions. 

It is a really cool looking bird and because I had it in the hand I was able to take some time to see all the unusual plumage on the bird. I took a few pictures and whenever I  have a chance I pull them up and try to stump someone as to identification.

Here are views of the bird from a couple of different angles.

Timberdoodle

 As a songbird bander I get to handle and study a pretty wide range of small, familiar perching birds from local Black-capped Chickadees to the migrant spring warblers and thrushes until, finally, I see the local summer residents on their territories. 

                  However, when you put up a mist net you never know what might show up. One morning as I made the rounds checking nets an unexpected loud whir of wings came up from the ground. My heart jumped as the bird flew straight ahead of me and right into the mist net I was going to check. There, in the bottom tier of the net was my first ever American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) or “Timberdoodle” as some of the local hunters call them. A large, plump bird of wetlands and forests this was a real treat. 

The Butcher Bird

 

Banders all know that, in general, if you have a bird in a good “banders grip” the odds of hurting the bird are minimal and it can be processed quickly and efficiently. I had an experience last fall with a bird I was banding who didn’t seem to understand that the “grip” should also keep the bander out of harms way.

           In October I caught 2 Northern Shrikes (Lanius excubitor) moving through my area on migration. These were the first shrikes caught at this site and the first I’d ever handled. Now I’ve handled thousands of birds for banding, and I know how to avoid things like grosbeak and woodpecker bills. Shrikes were a whole new ballgame. I’ve never handled a bird of this size that was so quick, agile and strong. The nickname “Butcher Bird” is absolutely appropriate. 

                                                                                

                Eventually I had the bird banded, measured and safely released but not before that hooked bill had taught me a lesson in being cautious. As you can see from my finger, I think I got the worst end of that encounter. On the bright side, the second shrike was much easier, and no more blood was shed that day.

A Rough Start to the Spring Migration

 

 After a LONG, snowy winter here in Minnesota I was more than ready for the changing over to spring. However, the transition has been slow and irregular. Last week we had 2 days in the 80's and now we're back to high temps in the 30's and 40's along with spits of snow. We had one good night of migration last week and many nights of little or no movement. Northern Minnesota looks more like mid-January than mid-April.

  In spite of that we are getting some migrants showing up but it is far from heavy movement. The radar image from last night shows how the strong weather systems moving across the country can interfere with migration. The weather front moving east is about 1200 miles long from Texas to the Great Lakes. Ahead of the front shows significant migration all over the eastern U.S.. Behind the front - nothing. That swirl of blue in northern Minnesota is snow.

  The upshot of all this is that, for us in the midwest, migration will be weak until the winds shift and the temps rise. I've only gotten out banding 3 days so far. Certainly the latest I've started my banding season recently. As things progress we'll get back to conditions that are more typical of spring. Now if we could only get the rivers from rising anymore....

  ...of course the flooded fields might be good for shorebirds!

An Interesting Radar Image

      It's been raining pretty heavily all morning so I didn't head out to my banding site. I was checking weather radar to see what this afternoon might look like when I noticed a really interesting image on the screen. All over the eastern U.S. I noticed the formation of what I believe are "roost rings" growing in size and then disappearing. These are radar images showing large flocks of birds rising up from their night roost to go off and feed.

If you look at Ohio on this image you will see 4 of these "rings". As far as what species this might be I'm not sure but my best guess is they could be Purple Martins and other swallows which are known to roost in flocks of up to 40,000 or more birds in some locations called pre-migratory roosts on their way south. It might also be groups of blackbirds which can form really large flocks. In some cases (not this one) it might also be insects or bats. Biologic returns on radar are fascinating and can tell us things we might not otherwise be aware of such as locations of these large roosts and the timing of movement by these large flocks.

There are still folks who argue that these images are either false returns or moisture in the air but not birds. I can assure you that radar ornithology has been understood for the last 50 years and is an extremely useful tool when it comes to tracking spring and fall migrations. So if you want to understand how useful this technology is you should check out the ebird related site called Birdcast, a great tool for birders.

Or maybe it's aliens....