Robert B. Janssen comments on EAW

“I have 1643 records of Great Blue Herons in Minnesota going back to 1947. I have traveled millions of miles (2.5 million is my closest estimate) in Minnesota studying the distribution of birds in the state. I have not made a special task of looking for GBH rookeries in the state, but I certainly have recorded the few that I have run across while birding in the state. Those that I have seen in the state are few and very far between. Also, those that I have seen have always been on islands in lakes or along rivers. I have never seen or heard of one in an upland forest like the Rochester Rookery described in Olmsted County. This must be the most unique rookery in the state… For these reasons, I feel it is imperative that the Rochester Town Board require an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the Pavilion Estates proposal. “

This comment was received from Robert B. Janssen on August 4, 2021.

Robert B. Janssen is the author of Birds in Minnesota: Revised and Expanded Edition. 2020. University of Minnesota Press and Birds of Minnesota State Parks. Mr. Janssen is one of Minnesota’s top birding experts. For many years he was editor of the quarterly journal of the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union and is a past president of that organization. He is coordinator of the Minnesota Breeding Bird Survey for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and consults for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Photo by Michael Melford