Cast YOUR Vote

Feathered Friends

21 February 2012

Image via Wikipedia

The days are getting longer and we are starting to see more birds. Many birds live here in the Boundary Waters in the summer and migrate south for the winter. However, there are several birds that live here all year. Next week we would like to focus on one of the birds that is able to survive the long, cold winters of Northern Minnesota.

We could study Ravens, which are very intelligent and have been know to lead wolves to wounded or dead animals. We could study the Gray Jay, which is very bold and will sometimes come and land on your hand at lunchtime, looking for bits of food. Finally, we could study Bald Eagles. Most Eagles migrate farther South for the winter, but a few of these large raptors live here...

What should we look for on the dogsled trail?

13 February 2012

We dogsled over lots of different terrain. We travel through the woods, on frozen, lakes, rivers, and bogs. We are wondering what you would like us to look for, the next time we are out dogsledding.We often see tracks left by different animals in the snow. If you like, we could take pictures of the animal tracks that we see. We could also learn more about each animal and teach you how to...

Taking care of the dogs is a big job.

05 February 2012

Last week’s Cast YOUR Vote was a tie! 46% of students wanted us to study the different types of sled dogs and 46% wanted us to focus on how we care for the sled dogs. We have never had a tie before. We decided to study the different types of sled dogs in this week’s Notes from the Trail.

Next week we will talk about how we care for our sled dogs. However, taking care of the dogs is a...

What aspect of dogsledding do you want to learn about?

30 January 2012

During the last few weeks we have had a lot of student emailing us questions about dogsledding. Next week we would like to focus our Notes from the Trail on one aspect of dogsledding. We need you to help us decide what we should focus on.

One option would be to study the different types of sled dogs. We could compare the Canadian Inuit Dogs that we use with the Alaskan Huskies that are used...

What would you like to learn about wolves?

23 January 2012

Image via Wikipedia

We have a great opportunity to learn about wolves! The International Wolf Center is located right in Ely, Minnesota. We want to find out what you would like to learn about wolves because we will visit the Wolf Center soon. They have interesting exhibits about wolves in a museum. They also have a small pack of wolves living in a large, outdoor enclosure! During this visit...