Launch Party!

A great big THANK YOU to Hub City Bookshop for hosting my launch party for ON THE MOVE. Great store, great people! I'm looking forward to doing more events with them.

New bookmarks and business cards I made to feature all three of my picture books:

I had a drawing for this stuffed animal gray whale, won by an absolutely adorable first grader named Eli. In the excitement I failed to get my picture with him. (sigh)

A few more photos:

Sandhill Crane Watch!

"Spring swoops onto the prairie on a brisk, bold breeze. A warbling, trumpeting, chirping noise gets louder and louder. Soon hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes fill the sky. They're on the move!" (On the Move by Scotti Cohn, Illustrated by Susan Detwiler)

copyright 2013 Susan Detwiler

"Every year during March and early April, over 500,000 sandhill cranes converge on the Platte River valley in Nebraska in order to ‘fuel up’ before resuming their northward migration. . .

The 2nd annual Crane Watch Festival dates have been set for March 22nd through March 31st.  This year's festival will continue the tradition with a calendar of fun-filled, educational, family activities, entertainment and community wide events..."

(For more information, go to the Kearney Visitors Bureau website and the Crane Watch Festival web site.)

Got Elephant Seals?

_Año Nuevo State Reserve_ in San Mateo County, California, does!

From the website:

On Saturday and Sunday, January 26 & 27 2013, the Coastside State Parks Association and California State Parks will host Seal Adventure Weekend. With a ticket, for one day only, visitors will have extraordinary access to linger for an entire morning or afternoon to view the elephant seals at the peak of the breeding season.

copyright Susan Detwiler

From On the Move by Scotti Cohn and Susan Detwiler:

Most of the year, northern elephant seals live alone.
They swim, dive, and hunt. Come winter, they are
on the move. They haul out on land, and soon the
beach is covered with seals.

Be sure to check out the _elephant seal camera_! 

Polar Bear Webcast

I just discovered this amazing and touching webcast on the Polar Bears International website:



I hope you'll take a moment to watch and listen to the music. The video of the bears and the scenery is both breathtaking and sobering, when you stop to think that we are in danger of losing the polar bear and its world.

Polar Bear Migration

"Between 500 and 1,000 polar bears gather near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada each fall. They wait for the Hudson Bay to ice over. Once the bay freezes, these mammals scatter on the ice to hunt seals and whales through the winter. As the ice thaws in the spring, the bears ride the ice floes back to land. They’ll spend the summer looking for whatever food they can find—even plants." (On the Move / For Creative Minds section)

Illustration detail from On the Move / copyright Susan Detwiler

Experience the polar bear migration live from Churchill, Manitoba! Just click on this link to a LIVE CAM!

You can also watch highlights HERE: