Minnesota Master Naturalist

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ADV - Migration Stories- Weekends at Wolf Ridge

Migration Stories- Weekends at Wolf Ridge website

6282 Cranberry Rd
Finland, MN 55603

Great of all experience levels! Lodging, meals and programming included in cost.

Minnesota has about 444 different species of birds, and almost 90% of them migrate! In this workshop we will dive into bird migration literally and figuratively! Why do birds travel such distances? What are the things a bird must know to migrate? Does the whole population go at once? Do they travel in family groups? How do you learn the routes? It’s a complicated business, and each bird species has its own fascinating story of how they get it done.

Weather conditions permitting, we will spend a few hours in the morning on Saturday and Sunday doing some migration bird banding at Sugarloaf Cove and Wolf Ridge to see first hand what bird species are moving through at that point in the fall migration- where are they coming from and where are they headed?! Fall migration is one long parade of bird species moving through. We will explore to see where we are in the parade and learn about the order of the movement. Can you identify confusing fall plumage warblers? Join us to find out and learn the basics of fall bird in the hand identification.

We’ll get an update on the fall migration from the counts at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, explore the processes and risks involved, and learn the migration stories of some familiar, and not so familiar Minnesota birds both in the hand and in the bush. We will observe raptor migration along the north shore, and learn the basics of identifying birds in flight, as well as explore the area at Wolf Ridge, and other locations within short driving distances from the Wolf Ridge campus to see who’s moving through the area. Is there a difference in movement between along the shore of Lake Superior and even a little bit inland? Let’s find out!

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Instructor, Margie Menzies Margie is a lifelong naturalist, educator and lover of rocks and all things of the natural world. She spent years in the formal classroom as a science teacher, but has abandoned the indoors for the great outdoor classroom. Margie is the naturalist at Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center on the North Shore in Schroeder, she is the Hawk Ridge Program Director, at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, and sometimes finds time to supervise student teachers or teach a course as adjunct faculty for the UMD Education Department. She teaches Master Naturalist Courses for Minnesota Extension at Sugarloaf and North House Folk School, in Grand Marais. Margie has been an active bird bander and instructor for the past 30 years. She loves learning and sharing the natural world with people of all ages.

The course cost is $390 and includes course manuals and supplies.

Course Dates:

Meeting from 3:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. on:

Instructor Information

Emily Pavlisich

Sponsor Information

Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center

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