Bird X Bird Participating Organizations
Since 2004, Bird x Bird has maintained a partnership with Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden & Bird Sanctuary (EBWG) at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis and Audubon Center of the North Woods (ACNW) a K-12 environmental learning center in Sandstone Minnesota. Both EBWG and ACNW collect and share data about avian species with Bird x Bird - data posted on the website as an educational and inspirational source for the project artists. Proceeds from BxB exhibits support programming at EBWG and ACNW and the general operation of the Bird x Bird.
The Audubon Center of the North Woods
The Audubon Center is a resident educational center that began as a bequest to the National Audubon Society in 1968 and has grown to be one of the leaders in environmental education, research, and land management.  The center has 535 acres in rural Pine County and serves colleges, K-12 schools, the general public, Elderhostel, and other non-profits.  The center is an accredited school (K-12) and has 65 – 75 schools annually attending resident learning experiences that seek to connect people with the natural world.  In addition, the center is the field campus for the Hamline University Master's in Environmental Education, Northland College's undergraduate degree in outdoor education, and the physical education program for Inver Hill's Community College.  For 33 years the ACNW has had multiple programs trying to promote respect, understanding and ethical care for the natural world.  Through art they have fostered aesthetics and connection, Through history - perspective, through science - the basic knowledge of the natural world, and through literature and writing - many perspectives about our role and responsibilities. You are invited to visit the center ACNW's Wildlife Coordinator Jeff Tyson extends an invitation to BirdXBird artists to visit the center to participate in bird banding sessions or to meet-up close their resident raptors. Two bird banding sessions are scheduled in July starting at 5:00am. If you want to meet and photograph or draw a Great Horned Owl, or Barred Owl, or Red-tailed Hawk, or American kestrel, Jeff can schedule it and will be happy to meet you and share his stories. Contact him at jtyson@audubon-center.org. The center located 1 ½ hours north of the twin cities. Click here for directions.
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary
The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary is the oldest public wildflower garden in the United States. The garden was founded in 1907 by the Minneapolis Park Board through the efforts of Eloise Butler and several other botany teachers. Butler taught science classes in Minneapolis from 1875-1911 The garden's 15 acres of woodland, wetland, and prairie foster different types of ecosystems supporting a myriad of plants, animals, and birds. The garden and bird sanctuaries are the focus of free programs and tours each week from April to mid-October. All programs are free and are lead by naturalist staff of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Birding in the Garden “From Bloom to Seed” Mini Exhibits: Through the nesting season the display case at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden will present monthly mini-exhibits of artwork made as a creative response to the daily records made by naturalists.