‘Look Up, Look down…Animal Signs are all Around’

Published 8:00 am Friday, March 2, 2018

March 10 lecture and walk covers wildlife scat, other signs

Join Conserving Carolina for a free lecture called “Look Up, Look down…Animal Signs are all Around,” presented by wildlife conservation educator Ann May on Saturday, March 10, at 10:30 a.m., at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve.

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The next best thing to seeing the real animal is seeing the signs it has left behind. These signs can be tracks, markings, slides, trails, and scat.

Join us to learn how to recognize and identify wildlife scat, and the fascinating things it and other animal signs can tell us about the wildlife living around us.

After the presentation, those that are interested are invited to join May for a walk around the preserve to see what wildlife signs can be found.

To get to Walnut Creek Preserve’s Nature Center from the Tryon and Columbus area, take Highway 108 East and turn left on Highway 9 toward Lake Lure.

Follow Highway 9 North for 5 miles and turn right onto McGuinn Road (at the Exxon Station).  Go 1 mile to the intersection with Big Level Road; turn left, go 0.2 miles and take the first right onto Aden Green Road.

Follow Aden Green for 0.4 mile and turn left on Wood Thrush Lane and into Walnut Creek Preserve. Take the first left onto Conservatory Lane, which takes you to the parking area for the nature center.

The lecture is part of Conserving Carolina’s monthly Speaker Series at Walnut Creek Preserve.      

For more information or directions from another location, contact Conserving Carolina at 828-859-5060 or email Pam Torlina at pam@conservingcarolina.org.

The next program at Walnut Creek Preserve will be held on April 14, when Nina Fischesser and Amber McNamara of the May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Lees-McRae College, will present, “Wildlife Rehabilitation in Higher Education.”

There will be live animals, so bring the kids. The program will take place at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at 10:30 a.m.

For more information about Walnut Creek Preserve, visit www.walnutcreekpreserve.com.  Please note, Walnut Creek Preserve is private property and guests are only allowed on the property by invitation (a planned event or scheduled group).

Conserving Carolina, your local land trust, is dedicated to protecting and stewarding land and water resources vital to our natural heritage and quality of life and to fostering appreciation and understanding of the natural world. For more info,  visit www.conservingcarolina.org.

– Submitted by Pam Torlina