Minnesota’s extensive library of books about its birds received a substantial addition recently when the University of Minnesota Press published “Birds in Minnesota.” This is yet again a revised and expanded edition of a book that had its beginning as a vision in author Robert Janssen’s mind when he was barely out of grade school. He is now in his 80s, enthusiasm undimmed, although he does move a bit more slowly. Minnesota’s birds are illustrated, of course, in the many guides to identification of North America’s avifauna. Those books put a name to an image. Janssen’s efforts seek to “tell readers what species have been reported in Minnesota, in what parts of the state they are found, in what seasons they are present, and how abundant they are,” to quote from the author’s preface.

Read the whole review.