BRATTLEBORO-Was that a bobcat prowling in the yard overnight, or just a bunny? Award-winning author Lynn Levine will lead an event at ByWay Books & More, 399 Canal St., on Saturday, Feb. 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. While all ages are welcome, children must be accompanied by an adult.
Levine will guide the curious through how to identify mammal tracks and patterns in all seasons, and she says the winter snowy season is a great time to start.
She will distribute handouts from her guide book, Mammal Tracks and Scat, to show how both paw prints and movement patterns allow you to identify walkers, waddlers, hoppers, and bounders. Additionally, she'll show preserved scat of area animals and the paws of the mammals who are making the tracks.
"If you like animals, if you like to learn, if you like the outdoors, this event is sure to fascinate," organizers said in a news release.
Levine's guide books are waterproof, so they are a perfect accompaniment on hikes. Books will be available for purchase and the author will sign them.
Levine is a consulting forester and has been an environmental educator and naturalist for many years. She has created more than a dozen interpretive nature trails, with her most recent one incorporating an Abenaki perspective along the West River Trail.
In addition to Mammal Tracks and Scat: Life-Size Pocket Guide, Levine is the author of Snow Secrets, Is it Time, Yet? and Identifying Ferns the Easy Way: A Pocket Guide to Common Ferns of the Northeast.
Most recently she published Robin's Song, a middle grade novel about a young girl dealing with loss and anxiety who relocates from Brooklyn to a small town in Vermont to live with her cousin. Through nature, music, and poetry, the tweens bond and Robin learns skills to deal with her emotions.
For more information on this event, visit bywaybooks.co or call 802-490-8014.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.