The Breeding Birds of Minnesota: History, Ecology, and Conservation, by Lee A. Pfannmuller, Gerald J. Niemi, and Janet C. Green
University of Minnesota Press, 2024
616 pages, hardcover
ABA Sales–Buteo Books 15235
Minnesota’s first-ever breeding bird atlas was officially completed in 2013 after four years of painstaking work. Birders collected nearly 400,000 records to completely survey this massive state. Many people don’t realize just how large Minnesota is, but Rock County in the southwestern part of the state is closer to the Oklahoma border than it is to Cook County in the northeastern part of the state. Likewise, Cook County is closer to the southern shores of Hudson Bay than it is to Rock County! It takes nearly nine hours to drive Minnesota from end to end. All this is to say that the breeding bird atlas was a truly monumental undertaking completed by hundreds of volunteers looking to further the knowledge of one of the most diverse midwestern states.
The Breeding Birds of Minnesota begins with a beautifully written introduction by Dr. Francesca Cuthbert, a Midwestern biologist who, among other accomplishments, started the project documenting and protecting the Great Lakes subspecies of Piping Plovers. In the introduction, she details Minnesota’s rich ornithological history, beginning with Ojibwe accounts of our native birds and culminating with Thomas S. Roberts’ incredible two volume, The Birds of Minnesota, published in the 1930s. Since then, there hasn’t been another book to cover Minnesota’s birds in such lavish detail. This new book is somewhat of a spiritual successor to Roberts’ book from nearly 100 years ago.
Following the introduction, there is a section dedicated to the more technical aspects of the atlas. Lee A. Pfannmuller, Gerald J. Niemi, and Janet C. Green discuss the methods, atlas blocks, and breeding codes. They also go through some of the big picture highlights of the atlas before getting into the individual specifics. Some good news was discovered through this project: new breeding locations for some rarer breeding birds like Bufflehead and Common Tern, the success of the longstanding conservation efforts for Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon, and continued population increases and range expansions for breeding birds like Sandhill Crane and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Some species like Merlin and Common Raven are increasing in population and are spreading southward, the reverse of many species these days.
However, it was far from all good news. Since the 1930s, Minnesota has seen large declines in many bird species, most of which are tied to the catastrophic loss of over 98 percent of the native prairie ecosystems statewide. This has contributed to the extirpation of Sprague’s Pipit, and since the completion of the atlas, it seems that Chestnut-collared Longspur has also been lost as a breeding species. The atlas also documented range contractions in Eastern Whip-poor-will and Eastern Screech-Owl and sounded alarm bells for a few species Minnesota could potentially lose as breeding species in the coming years like Piping Plover and Loggerhead Shrike, as most reports for those two species came from only a few atlas blocks.
The book’s next section is a long and thorough description of Minnesota’s many biomes. The authors zoom out and describe the four major biomes that comprise the state as defined by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources—Tallgrass Aspen Parkland, Laurentian Mixed Forest, Eastern Broadleaf Forest, and Prairie Parkland—and then break each biome into its many parts. These sections discuss the common plants and birds of each habitat with photographs and include maps of where these habitats exist in the state. The section also covers overall species richness between habitats and across different bird families. These are welcome additions to the book, as they are something I typically find lacking in most other regional guides and references.
Finally, we get to the species accounts. Each of the 231 species documented in the breeding bird atlas are treated with incredible detail. Each bird gets two to four pages of information as to their distribution and status in the state. Each species account starts with an “at a glance” section with some general facts about the bird including nest details, food preferences, and status in Minnesota. Then after a few colorful introductory paragraphs, the authors provide a lengthy account of each species’ breeding distribution in Minnesota. Starting with how common each species was in the past, the authors describe how distributions have changed over the years and why a species might be declining or expanding its range. Included is at least one map showing the species distribution across the atlas blocks, but the accounts also often include a map of predicted distribution based on habitat coverage.
Next is a section presenting detailed information on the necessary breeding habitat for each species. This is typically quite short and succinct and refers to specific plants and features to look out for when searching for each species. Then the accounts zoom out and look at population abundance for the species as a whole outside of Minnesota. In this section, there is often a graph depicting breeding population trends from the past 50 years of Breeding Bird Survey data collection to get a broad overview of how each species is doing now, and, for comparison’s sake, to see if Minnesota populations are mirroring national trends. Lastly, each species account ends with a section on the current conservation efforts and needs in Minnesota and across its range, citing specifically what habitats need to be conserved to protect the species.
The book closes with a brief overview of former and incidental breeding species and a few interesting appendices. The most interesting and most important appendix, in my opinion, is the final one, Appendix F, which looks at three different warming scenarios and the impacts those would have on the breeding birds of Minnesota. This information came from a 2019 National Audubon study and explores how species’ ranges change under a warming climate. This study also is referenced for relevant species under the conservation effort section in the detailed species accounts. The study stated that with a 1.5 °C change, which could happen as soon as 2030 and is considered imminent by 2050, when as many as 27 species could be extirpated as breeding species in the state.
While some of these seem unlikely to happen as soon as 2030, there are already a couple species that are all but gone as breeders in the state since the publication of this study in 2019. With others, it is shocking to think about, even in my brief birding career in Minnesota, just how sharp some of the declines in breeding and range contraction have occurred in certain species, and it is really sad to consider how Minnesota could lose any or many of these species in my lifetime. I’ve watched the decline of species like Canada Jay and Connecticut Warbler in nearby Wisconsin and Michigan, and I know that Minnesota is next to see these iconic species disappear. If a 3 °C change occurs, which the 2019 study predicts could happen as soon as 2080, Minnesota would lose over a quarter of its breeding species, nearly all of those occurring in the boreal forest.
While it is depressing to consider, it is crucial to do so to try and prevent such tragedies from happening. While these disasters are talked about in the text in greater detail, seeing it summed up in a table is incredibly bleak. It is a somber and necessary note to end a book dedicated to the breeding distributions of a northern state like Minnesota, with the harsh reality that the species presented here in such wonderful detail may not exist in another generation or two.
The Breeding Birds of Minnesota is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the status and distribution of birds in the state. It is truly the most well-researched and accurate representation of Minnesota birds in nearly 100 years. Every species is treated in incredible detail, and the introductions and appendices provide well-done accompanying information. If you were to only get one book on the birds of the region, this should be it!
Alex Sundvall is currently a full-time guide for Field Guides Birding Tours. His passion for birds has truly been life-long, starting when his kindergarten class took a field trip to Westwood Hills Nature Center in Minnesota. He has a love of migratory spectacles and enjoys standing in one place and watching birds fly over him.
