FRIDAY, April 19

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Friday Evening Presentations at the Paxton Theater – be sure to arrive no later than 6:45 pm to provide plenty of time for parking and walking to the theater.

7:00 pm at the Paxton Theatre: Our Keynote Speaker is Mary Sonis, Gifted Photographer of the Eastern Forest is coming to us from North Carolina with her stunning photographic art and enchanting stories from afield.

Many gifted photographers showcase the beauty and biodiversity of our Eastern landscapes, but few specialize in wildlife (always a
moving target!), and fewer yet do so with the intimacy and familiarity that Mary has accomplished over her decades of patient wildlife
observation. Good photography is 10% luck, 20% skill, and 70% devotion. And it is devotion that makes Mary’s art so superb. Hardly
morning goes by that she is not out in the field visiting her friends in the field and witnessing their small and dramatic lives with
sensitivity, curiosity, and attentiveness. Consequently, Mary captures on her camera biographies that, without her help, would be
invisible to the rest of us. Prepare for an evening of fine storytelling.

7:15 pm - 9:00 pm at the Paxton Theatre. AN EVENING OF STORYTELLING, NATURE & ART

Our Keynote Speaker is Author and Artist, Julie Zickefoose presenting:
Books, Birds and Following Passion’s Path

Julie Zickefoose lives and works quietly on an 80-acre wildlife sanctuary in the back country of Whipple, Ohio, where she is a prolific writer and painter. Her illustrated work, The Bluebird Effect, was an Oprah's Book Club pick in 2012.  After 37 years of contributing art and writing to Bird Watcher's Digest, Julie recently became Advising Editor to the new and improved BWD Magazine. Her heavily illustrated books include Natural Gardening for Birds, Letters from Eden, The Bluebird Effect, and Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest. Her newest book is Saving Jemima: Life and Love With a Hard-Luck Jay, the intimate story of how an orphaned bird can save a soul.

This talk is an origin story; a close look at the making of a natural history writer and illustrator. It follows the threads of inspiration from formative books and influential artists in Julie’s early years, to the creation of her own books. Zickefoose tracks in intimate detail the exceptionally close interactions she has with birds under her study and care. These experiences have given her deep insight into the way birds think and see the world. “There’s no better way to come to know a bird than to be its mama. Then, to let it go and watch it learn to navigate its world and become what it was meant to be—this is how I come to understand birds: from their beginnings on outward.” Illustrated with the author’s own photographs, drawings and paintings, this presentation brings viewers into Julie’s world, and that of the birds she has come to know. A brood of Carolina wrens: ferociously intelligent, surprisingly affectionate, inventive and comical, consumed Julie’s summer in 2023. You’ll leave with a far greater appreciation of these small brown birds, and all birds, who have been Julie’s best instructors in the ways of the wild.