Though she was born on Long Island, she grew up in Brooklyn, and started birding in Prospect Park, regularly traveling from her Bay Ridge home.
[1] She saw it when she was six years old, on the side of the road when her father's car broke down on a trip to her grandparents' house, and recognized it from looking through her grandmother's John James Audubon illustrations.
[2][4] She would guide people, holding binoculars and wearing a trademark blue bandana, through the Ramble and North Woods sections of the park on outings that could last five hours.
[7][8] Filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball included Saphir as one of the major characters in his 2012 HBO documentary, Birders: The Central Park Effect in 2012.
[2] She persisted giving regular bird walks despite a range of health issues, including cataracts, arthritis, a limp, and back problems, and after being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
[3][1] Saphir was married twice, first to Michael Henisse and later to Stephen Gussman, from whom she was separated when she died, and she had two daughters, Shawna Leigh and Lara Willis.