A Night at the Toledo Zoo

As the sun set and the Sandhill Cranes flew overhead a small group of birders prepared for an evening at the Toledo Zoo. We piled into the BSBO Birders Bus and rambled the 30 minutes into the city.

The Toledo Naturalists’ Association was holding their annual banquet, and this year they were honoring Kim Kaufman with their Naturalist of the Year Award!

Kim’s work as director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and especially her vision of the Ohio Young Birders were the inspiration for the award.

She humbly accepted the honor while acknowledging that her visions could not come to fruition without the hard work of her incredible team of employees and volunteers at BSBO.

The evening continued with the keynote speaker — artist, naturalist, writer, Julie Zickefoose. Her program, Letters from Eden, was based on her book of the same title. The book is a collection of stories, observations and anecdotes of her life on the 80 acre ‘reserve’ she and her husband, Bill and their two kids call home.

From serious and sad to lighthearted and humorous, Julie’s tales revealed her passion for all things natural. I have only read two chapters of Letters from Eden since my return home (and I will post a review in the future) but I can already say… read it!

Julie and I had a great reunion… last year at this time we were exploring the wilds of Guyana (search our blog for ‘Guyana’ to see those posts). She was very surprised to see me in Toledo! I only wish I had a photo of her face when she realized I was standing in front of her!