The Hancock County Naturalists will host speaker Jeremy Dominguez at their monthly meeting on January 11 at 7 p.m. The topic of his talk will be birding in Northwest Ohio. He will explore what Northwest Ohio has to offer regarding birding opportunities and what the Toledo Zoo is doing to promote birding and bird conservation. The meeting will be held at the Doc Phillips Discovery Center at Oakwoods Nature Preserve, 1400 Oakwoods Lane. The meeting is free and open to the public. Dominguez is the Birding Outreach Coordinator and Ornithologist at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium

Dominguez became interested in birds while in Alaska, serving in the US Navy. Upon his return to Ohio, his interest quickly grew to obsession. Dominguez did an “Ohio Big Year” in 2015 to get better acquainted with the birds of his home state. In 2016 and 2017, he started to travel all over the US, seeking out birds. In 2018, Dominguez returned to school in Southeastern Ohio, graduating from Hocking College with an ecotourism and adventure travel degree. In 2020, he took on his biggest birding adventure yet, doing a “Lower 48 US Big Year” and setting the record for it with 724 species seen. He has since spread his wings to international travel, exploring places like China, South Korea, Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Since February 2022, Dominguez has taken the Birding Outreach Coordinator and Ornithologist position at The Toledo Zoo and Aquarium. In addition to his work duties, he is an eBird reviewer for the Greater Toledo area and Vice President for The Ohio Ornithological Society.