In addition to the detailed summary of results presented in each species account for the 249 bird species detected during the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas, two broad summaries of the results are presented below.
Overall Summary of Atlas Effort and Results
| # All Blocks | # Priority Blocks | |
| Total # blocks in Minnesota | 9,774 | 2,352 |
| Total # of blocks with at least 10 records | 4,773 | 2,337 |
| Total # of species detected | 249 | 243 |
| Total # species confirmed | 231 | 218 |
Detailed Summary of Atlas Results by Species
The attached Excel spreadsheet provides the following details for all 249 species observed during the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas:
All Blocks
- The first section of the spreadsheet summarized the number of all sampled atlas blocks where each species was reported as Observed, Possible, Probable, or Confirmed. The total for each column reflects the highest evidence code reported for that block. For example, if there were 4 records for American Robins in one block and one was coded as Possible, two were coded as Probable, and one was coded as Confirmed, the block is only tallied once in the Confirmed column.
- The Total column simply totals the number of blocks where the species was reported at least once with one of the four breeding categories (i.e. Observed, Possible, Probable, or Confirmed).
- The Total Records column, on the other hand, is the total number of records submitted for each species. So in the American Robin example above, all 4 records in the one block would be tallied.
Priority Blocks
- This summarizes the same information as above but only for the subset of Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Priority Blocks. Defined under Data Collection, priority blocks are the northeast quadrant (3 miles by 3 miles) of every township in the state.
Point Counts
- Again, described under Data Collection, breeding bird data was collected by skilled field surveyors at three 10-minute point counts in each priority block. These data complimented the data collected by volunteers and provided systematic, baseline data for assessing habitat relationships and species relative abundance. When the atlas is repeated, it will enable a statistical analysis of population change over time. The first point count in each priority block was selected randomly. The number of random point counts were each species was detected is summarized under the column titled Random.
- The second and third point counts in each priority block were selected to represent the most abundant and the second most abundant habitat in the entire township. The Total column summarizes the total number of all point counts where each species was detected.
Like all Excel spreadsheets, the detailed summary can be resorted to display species in order of largest number of records to smallest number of records for any of the column headings.