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Kenn Kaufman (born 1954) Kenn Kaufman is a legend among birders and since the death of Roger Tory Peterson in 1996, has perhaps done more than any other single human being to promote the appreciation of birds and nature. A birder and naturalist since childhood, he left home at the age of sixteen to begin an 80,000-mile cross-country journey aimed at breaking the record for most avian species sightings in a single year. Those travels were just the beginning; since that time he has led nature tours on all seven continents. A longtime friend and disciple of the late eminent birder Roger Tory Peterson, Kaufman is a field editor for Audubon magazine and a regular contributor to every major birding magazine. He is the youngest person ever to receive the highest honor of the American Birding Association, and he has been voted to elective membership in the prestigious American Ornithologists’ Union. His books include Lives of North American Birds, Kingbird Highway, The Peterson Field Guide to Advanced Birding, and his own Kaufman Field Guide Series (on North American birds, butterflies, mammals, and insects). From
Kenn's
Blog: Kenn's wife
On the same theme as Birding on Borrowed Time, Kenn's book tells about his
obsession with birding, and how at the age of 16 he dropped out of school
to hit the road and travel the USA for a year, to see as many bird species
as he could.
Kenn has authored several birding books and is a regular contributor to American Birding magazines. Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman Houghton Mifflin, 1997 ISBN 0-395-77398-9 (hardback) |
dering,
how do I describe this man? For a woman who is REALLY into birds, Kenn is a
total dream. He has incredible knowledge -- and incredibly blue eyes. He's
sweet, funny, handsome, romantic, (stubborn), and a rock-solid bass guitar
player! Birds took over his life when he was six. At 16 he went out
hitch-hiking all over to see as many birds as he could, as described in
Kingbird Highway. I read that book before I met Kenn; now it scares the
bejeezus out of me to think of what he did. I'm not going to let him
hitch-hike, or eat catfood, ever again! I'd rather have him focus on his
writing: articles in Audubon and WildBird, columns in every issue of Bird
Watcher's Digest and Birder's World. He has 9 books in print now, in 3
languages, including his own series of field guides. He's in demand as a
speaker, and he's led birding tours on all 7 continents. The dude has serious
birding creds!