Warblers!
That is what the target of this weekly field trip will be! Of course, there are MANY other species of birds to see and hear in the bog during the end of spring migration and the start of nesting. Field trips will hope to see and hear flashy warblers, cryptic wetland species, and even prairie birds!
9:00 am- 12:00 pm Meeting in the Lois King Education Center at the Welcome Center
Activity Rating- 1
Bones can tell us a lot about an animal, from what it eats, to how it moves, even how it might defend itself from predators! Skulls are especially useful when trying to learn more about how an animal does what it does. Join us for an exploration of the collection of skulls at the Welcome Center to learn a little more about some of the animals in the Northwoods!
Dragonflies and damselfies (collectively known as odonates) are a fascinating group of insects!
Most of their lives are spent as an effective aquatic predator in their nymph stage, even though most of us may better know them from their terrestrial and aerial adult stages.
This field trip will spend time focusing on each life stage: swooping the ditches and lakes of the Sax-Zim Bog for nymphs and plying the skies for adult odonates. If you are interested in learning more or getting a deeper understanding of this group of insects, this field trip is for you!
Tiger Beetles Field Trip
Sax-Zim Bog
Hand lenses are a great way to investigate something up close and personal!
Naturalists tend to have a hand lens in their bags, whether or not they use them, as a good way to take a closer look at a subject.
In the summer months, there are so many things happening that we cannot see with our un-aided eyes: scales on butterfly wings, feather barbs, the fuzziness of plant leaves, and tiny fungi growing in the understory… the list goes on!
The St. Louis River is an incredible waterway: It drains 2.4 million acres of Northern Minnesota, differs greatly in geology across its reach from east-central St. Louis County to Duluth, and is home to some interesting biodiversity.
Rivers are diverse and ever-changing waterways, so you never know what we might find!
This field trip will not only investigate the St. Louis River and what it has to offer biologically, but will give participants a chance to observe and interpret a truly dynamic ecosystem. You will definitely be getting wet during this field trip!
There are plenty of opportunities to navigate the terrestrial biodiversity of the Sax-Zim Bog, but it is not often that folks choose to explore the waterways in and around the Sax-Zim Bog during a visit to the region.
In the past, we have had a canoe trip on the Whiteface River so why not explore a lake?
This trip will be a relaxed paddle around Stone Lake! Please bring your own canoe/kayak, paddles, and life jackets. Other details to come closer to the date.
Don’t wait a minute longer to start enjoying this summer! Get out and get wet at the Highlands Splash Pad starting TODAY!
Spiders Field Trip
Sax-Zim Bog
Spiders are an interesting bunch: some have nothing but nice things to say about them, while others cannot bear to be within several hundred feet of these eight-legged wonders. The Sax-Zim Bog has over 130 species of spider, including several first state record and dozens of new county record species in the last few years. Come out to learn a little more about the different species of spiders in Minnesota and spend some time observing these misunderstood critters!
Northern Minnesota is home to a diverse lichen community. These species cover nearly 8% of the terrestrial surface of the earth, yet are relatively unknown to most of us. Join us on this trip to get firsthand experience in lichen identification, as well as to learn a few of the more common lichens in our area. We will start our field trip indoors, investigating the Welcome Center Lichen Library and during the trip, we will be making small collections of lichens for the Welcome Center Lichen Library!
