The Sax-Zim Bog is a well known bird watching area located in northern Minnesota. This vast area, over 147,000 acres, is perhaps best known for winter bird watching opportunities, especially for those folks interested in braving subzero temperatures for owls, finches, and other boreal forest specialists. However, this is a location that has year-round biodiversity across an incredibly diverse landscape! This talk will serve as a good introduction to the Sax-Zim Bog, will consider the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog organization, and discover some of the birds and other critters that call this place home through the coldest winter weather and warmest summer sun. 

Speaker information: Clinton Dexter-Nienhaus is the Head Naturalist for the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, a position that he has held for 6 years. He is an Environmental Educator, with a Master's Degree in Environmental Education from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Biology from St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. As Head Naturalist for the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, Clinton's roles vary including teaching and scheduling education field trips in the Sax-Zim Bog, teaching Minnesota Master Naturalist courses, serving as a bird guide, coordinating a number of Citizen Science endeavors in the Sax-Zim Bog, and documenting and identifying all species found in the Sax-Zim Bog. His interests in the natural world include fish, dragonflies and damselflies, birds, reptiles and amphibians, moths and butterflies, lichens, prairie and boreal forest plant communities and ecology, beetles, and recently ants and grasshoppers.

Pine Grosbeak, photo by Sparky Stensaas

Evening Grosbeak, photo by Sparky Stensaas

Great Gray Owl, photo by Sparky Stensaas

Canada Jay, photo by Sparky Stensaas