Jack Smith
Outstanding Speaker Series
March 29, 2025
Carlisle Reservation
3:00pm-5:00pm
Steve Shunk
“How Woodpeckers Can Save
the World”
Woodpeckers represent one of the most specialized bird families in the world, and these woodland carpenters perform critical ecological services in Ohio's forest and woodland habitats. In fact, on no other continent than North America are woodpeckers such important contributors to woodlamd ecology.
Join author, naturalist, field biologist, and woodpecker fanatic, Steve Shunk, for an exciting journey into the lives and times of Ohio’s woodpeckers. Steve will share secrets of woodpecker anatomy and their fascinating adaptations plus stories of their dynamic natural histories as he interprets the keystone roles that woodpeckers play across the Buckeye State and beyond.
Steve Shunk
Paradise Birding
Author of the Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America, Steve gives presentations and leads birding tours from North America to Borneo. He co-founded the East Cascades Bird Conservancy and the Oregon Birding Trails program, and he studied woodpeckers for more than 25 years from his former base in Central Oregon. Today, Steve and his partner, Lizzy Martinez, work as resident naturalists at a private guest ranch in western Jalisco, Mexico, where they enjoy regional endemics like the Golden-cheeked and Gray-crowned Woodpeckers. When not guiding on the ranch, Steve leads tours for Arizona-based Naturalist Journeys.
About the Jack Smith
Outstanding Speaker Series
Black River Audubon Society was founded in 1958 through the influence of Jack Smith. The annual event honors him and his contribution to Black River Audubon Society. Each year a nationally-recognized speaker will highlight the event. The board will also share the work of its members over the last year. A social hour with refreshments will follow the program. This program is free to the public.
Previous Outstanding Speakers
April 27, 2013 – Al Batt, Stories by Al Batt, Naturally (birding humor)
April 5, 2014 – Jim McCormac, Wild Ohio
March 21, 2015 – Joy Kiser, America’s Other Audubon: Genevieve Estelle Jones
April 11, 2015 – Dave Horn, A Forty Year Survey of Birds in Northwestern Hocking, County, Ohio
April 9, 2016 – Paul J. Baicich, The Dozen Most Important You Can Do for Bird Conservation
April 1, 2017 – Brian Fox, Adventures with Audubon
April 25, 2017 – Dr. Bernie Master, Special Event in collaboration with Fireland Audubon,
November 18, 2017 – Sharon “Birdchick” Stiteler, Today’s Office (entertaining birding tales)
November 10, 2018 – Julie Zickefoose, Baby Birds, Combined Outstanding Speaker with BRAS 60th Anniversary Celebration
2020- Event Cancelled
2021- Event Cancelled
April 23, 2022 – Jamie Cunningham, The Secret Life of Warblers & Jim McCormac, Conservation Photography: Connecting the Masses with Nature
March 25, 2023 — Scott Weidensaul, A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds
March 23, 2024— Jen Brumfeld, The Presence (and Presents) of Birds — a lifetime of chasing wings
Tickets
Tickets will be available on March 1, 2025
There is no cost for members, but due to limited seating, you must get a ticket.
The cost for non-members is $10.
