BY BECKY LINHARDT
CO-OP PEOPLE
Natu ral APPEAL The Kelleys Island Audubon Club attracts visitors to the island by showcasing its beauty and wildlife
K
elleys Island residents welcome the return each spring of their “feathered tourists” — songbirds, waterfowl, and raptors that pass through on their way to Canada. So it was a rather obvious decision for the island’s innkeepers to band together to create an event around it. “Nest with the Birds” began in the 1980s as a way to drum up some earlyseason bookings by offering guided hikes and migration-related programs for birdwatchers. “When friends came for the event, they were amazed by the colorful birds — yellow warblers and blue bunting and others — and insisted that we needed to protect them,” says Pat Hayes, of The Inn on Kelleys Island, which, like the rest of the island’s residents and businesses, is served by Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative. “After investigating a number of organizations, we decided that Audubon was the best fit for our goals.”
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OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • APRIL 2018