22 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 73 



house sparrow has been provided by the Federal Government by the Migra- 

 tory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, as amended (40 Stat. 755; 16 U.S.C. 703-711). 

 Eagles have been afforded additional protection by the Eagle Act of 1940 

 (54 Stat. 250; 16 U.S.C. 668). Several species have been given even greater 

 protection by the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 884; 16 

 U.S.C. 668aa-668cc). Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have enacted special 

 legislation within their respective States that provides statewide protection 

 for species that are decUning locally or regionally, but not on a level to be 

 afforded protection by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. 



Official Usts of protected bird species have been prepared for Minnesota 

 and Wisconsin. Forty-three of the species listed by either State have been 

 recorded in the Valley (Table 1). Terms used throughout this report to 

 describe the special status of these species are adapted from Les (1979) and 

 Moyle (1980). 



Endangered— K species whose continued existence is in jeopardy and is 

 provided special protection by law. 



Threatened— \ species that appears likely to become endangered. Threat- 

 ened species are provided special protection by law. 



Watch— A species for which some problem of abundance is suspected but 

 not proven. The purpose of this classification is to focus attention on a 

 species before it becomes threatened or endangered. This is an informal 

 classification and no additional legal protection is provided. In Minne- 

 sota, species in this classification are considered Priority. 



Terms used in describing the occurrence of a species in the Valley include 



Permanent resident— A species that is largely nonmigratory or, if migra- 

 tory, only a very small proportion of the population departs during a 

 migration period. 



Migrant— A species that normally occurs in the Valley only during the 

 well-defined spring and fall migration period. 



Nesting species— A species for which a viable clutch of eggs, dependent 

 young in the nest, or young that have left the nest but are still depen- 

 dent have been observed. 



Summer resident— A species that occurs in the Valley during the normal 

 nesting period and in all Ukelihood nests, but for which there are no con- 

 firmed records of eggs or dependent young. 



Winter resident— A species that winters even though greater numbers 

 may occur during migration. 



Terms used in relating the relative abundance of each species during 

 migration, winter, or the breeding season relate to its importance to the 

 total avifauna. These terms adapted from Stewart (1975) are described as 

 follows: 



Abundant— A species that, because of its habits and conspicuousness, 



occurs in very large numbers. 

 Common— A species that occurs in large numbers. 

 Fairly common— A species that occurs in fair to moderate numbers. 

 Uncommon— A species that is found in low numbers. 



