Bog BioBlitz V tallies over 400 species…Again!
46 Participants Wander about the Bog, Recording species
Highlights included 3 Great Gray Owls (family group), 2 Black-backed Woodpeckers, Purple Fringed Orchids, Michigan Lily, Turtlehead, Tadpole Madtom (fish…first Sax-Zim record!), Golden Shiner (fish), Plains Emerald (dragonfly), Black Swallowtail, Wasp Mantidfly (a bug that looks like a wasp but has praying-mantis-like front legs), LeConte’s Sparrow (juvenile and adult), Rusty Snaketail (dragonfly), Brush-tipped Emerald, Marsh Grass of Parnassus, Xyris montana (Yellow-eyed Grass) at East Stone Lake Bog, Triangle Web Spider (first Sax-Zim Bog record) at Cotton School Forest, Big Sand Tiger Beetle at the Admiral Road Gravel Pit, Ragged Fringed Orchid, Black-billed Magpie (juvenile), Black Bear, flock of 30+ Bobolinks, 3 Boreal Chickadees along Arkola just east of Owl Avenue, Giant Ichneumon wasp, Ruby Tiger Moth, 5 species of Earthworm (lowlight? …as all earthworms in MN are non-native), and many others….[Full species list coming!]
The Bog BioBlitzers!
Scanning for Upland Sandpipers (no luck!) but the field did hold a pair of Sandhill Cranes.
Sedge Wrens were still singing.
A real treat! Watching 3 Boreal Chickadees along Arkola/CR52 near Owl Avenue.
Male Goldenrod Crab Spider
Pair of Sandhill Cranes
This young Black-billed Magpie was seen by the birding group
This Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) has taken on the yellow color of the Brown-eyed Susan to better camouflage itself from potential prey.
Twelve-spotted Skimmers are always a treat to see.
Wood Nymphs were on the wing in the afternoon.
Dun Skippers were quite numerous.
It was great to see some young folks and families attend the event. Today’s kids are the Bog‘s future.
Head Naturalist Clinton Nienhaus shares his finds.
BioBlitz teams getting ready to head out.
A youngster gets a lesson in spider biology
A severe windstorm the night before the event took our beautiful big White Pine that anchored the parking lot and many winter bird feeders. It will be sorely missed!
By the looks of the trunk, the tree was well rotted and not long for this world anyway.
Dr. Tim Craig from the University of Minnesota Duluth brought his great enthusiasm for insects and galls with him to the event, and shared it with many.
Bill Tefft, our gravel pit exploration leader (left), Dave Steininger (middle), Lori Williams.
Leaders and participants swap stories from the day in the field. Jerry McCormack (standing left) was our butterfly leader.
Northern Water Plantain (Alisma triviale) found at Nichols Lake.
A real treat for the bird group during the Bog BioBlitz was the close appearance of a beautifully marked juvenile LeConte’s Sparrow on Dart Road. This awesome photo is by Casey Weissburg, on of the participants.
Larry Weber reads off a list of the spiders he found during his explorations of the Cotton School Forest. His big find was a Triangle Web Spider (Hyptiotes cavatus) [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Sharing our finds at the end of the BioBlitz [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Flora group checks out the public landing on Stone Lake [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Leader Kelly Beaster (center) and the flora group. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Flora group searches the shoreline of a small feeder stream of the St. Louis River. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
[photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Clinton Nienhaus and his fishes participants sweep in a small stream. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Flora leader Kelly Beaster pointin out some floodplain trees. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Gravel Pit Exploration leaders, Bill Tefft (left) and David Bixler. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Head Naturalist Clinton Nienhaus. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
It was great to see so many young folks join us for the Fifth Annual Bog BioBlitz in Sax-Zim Bog. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Executive Director Sparky Stensaas [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Sparky Stensaas greets the BioBlitzers. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
BioBlitzers converge on the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
[photo by Rubin Stenseng]
The day started off foggy and cool but cleared off and warmed up nicely by 11:30 or so. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Board Member Gene Ollila and his grandson enjoying the day. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Flora leader Kelly Beaster (left) chatting with bioblitzers Julie and Norma. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Jinny Alexander (foreground) using a special technique to draw earthworms up and out of the soil [photo by Rubin Stenseng]
Earthworm leader Jinny Alexander turned up 5 species of earthworms on this day…A good thing? Probably not, as all earthworms in Minnesota are “non-native” and often damage woodlands. Fortunatley bogs do not have much mineral soil and so worms are scarce there. [photo by Rubin Stenseng]