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What is Uplift?
Uplift is a community naming project that celebrates the people who make a lasting difference close to home. At Save Our Seabirds, every ambassador bird carries a story — and through this initiative, we honor those whose stories inspire, support, and strengthen others by sharing their name with an incoming resident bird. Just as these birds depend on the lift of the wind to stay aloft, we depend on the lift of good people to keep us soaring.
Our Emblem
The chimney swift is a powerful symbol of community and connection. These small birds spend nearly their entire lives in flight, moving together in graceful, synchronized swarms that depend on shared air currents—literally lifted by one another. Once forest dwellers, they adapted to living alongside people, nesting in chimneys and thriving in the spaces we create together. They represent unity, resilience, and the beauty of collective strength—an emblem of how we rise higher when we lift each other.
Uplift Honorees
Taka
Species: Red-Shouldered Hawk
Reason for Residency: Imprinted
Community Inspiration: Taka Souder
Taka has been rescuing animals for as long as she can remember. As a child, her parents’ home was “basically a zoo,” filled with animals in various states of need and recovery. Caregiving wasn’t something she grew into later in life—it was the environment that shaped her from the very beginning.
After moving to Florida, that instinct only deepened. While many people know Taka for her devotion to pelicans, her compassion reaches far beyond any single species. She rescues animals of all kinds—often so many that her husband jokingly reminds her there might be limits (though Taka would argue otherwise).
For Taka, rescue extends beyond the living. She cannot pass a fallen animal on the roadside without stopping. Leaving an animal there—unseen and forgotten—feels unbearable to her. Out of respect, she takes the time to care for them even in death, believing every life deserves dignity.
Because of this ever-present readiness to help, Taka’s car is always prepared: disposable gloves, a shovel, large blue sheets, and even a microchip scanner—just in case. These aren’t tools she carries out of obligation; they’re an extension of who she is.
Imprinting is what happens when an early bond shapes a bird for life. It’s also how Taka moves through the world—leaving a lasting mark on every life she touches, human and animal alike. The hawk we are naming in her honor is imprinted and cannot return to the wild, but that doesn’t make her story smaller. Naming this hawk after Taka honors a shared truth: when care is given early, deeply, and without hesitation, it stays. And it changes everything that comes after.
Leopold
Species: Crested Caracara
Reason for Residency: Impaired flight
Community Inspiration: Leopold Kissling
Leopold “Leo” Kissling has been a quiet force behind Save Our Seabirds — steady, sharp, and endlessly resourceful. It’s only fitting that our crested caracara carries his name. Like Leo, caracaras are clever opportunists: they know when to wait, when to strike, and how to make the most of what’s in front of them. They stride forward with purpose, scanning the landscape for what others overlook, solving problems with patience and grit.
This particular caracara sustained a wing injury that prevents him from flying, yet he remains inquisitive and full of energy — bounding up and down his perches with the same determination Leo brings to every challenge. Both embody a grounded kind of resilience: finding ways to move, adapt, and thrive even when the wind changes.
Beyond keeping our campus standing tall, Leo volunteers on our rescue team, answering calls to help injured birds in need. He also serves on the local turtle watch, rising before dawn to ensure hatchlings safely reach the sea and marking nests along the shore. His work, like the caracara’s flight, is grounded yet far-reaching — a quiet current of persistence and care that keeps life moving forward.
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