This has turned out to be an exceptional winter for Hoary Redpoll in Minnesota, certainly one of the largest invasions on record. As winter seasonal compilers for the MOU, Drew Smith, Paul Budde and I wish to thank all of the birders who have taken the time and effort to post and document their sightings of this rare-regular species to the MOU web site. Only through your documented reports is it possible to track and evaluate the extent of this amazing invasion. We realize that birders in northern counties tend to find many more individuals of this species than do birders in the southern counties and we really appreciate their documentation as well. A recent string of postings to MOU-net from southern Minnesota dealing with possible leucistic Common Redpolls shows how important it is to document this potentially confusing species, especially females and immatures. As you all know, this has also been an irruptive year for Common Redpolls throughout the state (even south to Texas). There is a well documented degree of overlap in plumage characteristics between Common and Hoary Repolls, so it has been especially important to receive well-documented reports of the latter. Thanks again, and please continue to document your sighting through the remainder of the spring season. Good birding to all, Jim Mattsson Drew Smith Paul Budde ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html