The Northern Naturalist

provides bi-weekly, in-depth articles about nature in the Northern U.S. Each issue has a feature on one species, a how-to or explanatory article about learning about the natural world, a review, and news and notes about my part of the world (Northern Minnesota).

Who Am I?

I’m Dave Benson, author of Owls of the North: a Naturalist’s Handbook, Woodpeckers of North America, and the award-winning Stories in Log and Stone: the New Deal in Minnesota State Parks. I have served as the naturalist at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Gooseberry Falls State Park, Jay Cooke State Park, Pattison State Park, and Amnicon Falls State Park. I have been a guide for Minnesota Birding Weekends, and I have written park interpretive plans for eight state parks. I was co-founder of the Friends of Sax Zim Bog.