Photo by Layne Kennedy Along with migrating birds, the North Shore will be seeing an influx of birders during the Boreal Birding & Northern Landscapes Festival on June 4-7, 2009. North House Folk School is hosting the festival and expects over 80 students during the event.
Along with migrating birds, the North Shore will be seeing an influx of birders during the Boreal Birding & Northern Landscapes Festival on June 4-7, 2009. North House Folk School is hosting the festival and expects over 80 students during the event.
The festival opens with a presentation scheduled at the USFS Gunflint Ranger Station, titled The Remarkable Gray Jay: Ecology, Forestry, Research on Thursday, June 4 at 7:00 p.m. Theprogram is presented by Dr. Thomas H. Nicholls, director of the Nature Education Center in Fifield, WI and Peg Robertsen, Wildlife Biologist for the East Zone of the Superior National Forest, Tofte Ranger District. Together, they will present the findings of decades of research surrounding this most curious and ‘remarkable’ bird.
Friday evening’s program titled, Looking Through The Lens At TheBoreal Forest takes a turn toward a more subjective subject as Layne Kennedy, nationally recognized magazine photographer, presents a slideshow of decades of photographing the region – from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the wild shoreline of the North Shore to the archipelago of the Apostle Islands. The program takes place at the Betsy Bowen Studio, Friday, June 5 also at 7:00 p.m.
The final presentation of the weekend takes place on the North House Folk School campus Saturday, June 6 at 7:00 p.m. The North Shore’s own “biologist” and “owler” Bill Lane will present Into The Night – Shining The Light on Boreal Owls Of Minnesota. In the span of two decades, Bill Lane has watched and listened as Boreal Owls occupied, then vacated the boreal forest landscape. Their departure was sudden and unanticipated. Is it explainable? During his talk, Bill will provide an overview of his 23 years of owl data.
Registration is not required for any of the presentations. Admission to each presentation is $5/person, paid at the door.
In addition to the presentations, there are a number of field courses ranging from hikes among flower gardens to lakeshore cruises. North House is also offering its traditional craft based courses such as Scandinavian Style Flat- Plane Figure Carving, Craft Your Own Coiled Bee Skep, and Raku Pottery Experience.
For more information about the Boreal Birding Festival, visit www.northhouse. org.
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