Birds of Minnesota State Parks

From the Star Tribune...

Janssen, 82, has a new book, “Birds of Minnesota State Parks,” that was almost 18 years in the making.

Released last month by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the book had its start in 1997 when the DNR contacted Janssen in search of someone to “inventory” the birds at several state parks. “It took about a nanosecond to say ‘Me!’ and that started the whole project,” said Janssen, who had retired from the corporate world in 1994. He worked at Quality Park Products in Minneapolis for 38 years.

Janssen set up a system for four-year bird surveys at Afton, William O’Brien, Fort Snelling and Minnesota Valley state parks. In 2001, a state parks manager suggested expanding the surveys to more parks. Janssen and birder Jerry Bonkowski did field surveys at 35 parks “with no birding information,” Janssen said, and gathered other bird data on the remaining state parks. Their work lasted until 2007.