A dedicated naturalist from the age of six, Kenn Kaufman burst onto the birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s, hitch-hiking all over North America in pursuit of birds — an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway.

After several years as a leader of birding tours worldwide, he transitioned to a career as a writer, editor, and illustrator. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects and painting bird portraits. His 14 books include his latest, The Birds That Audubon Missed, published in May 2024.

Kenn is a field editor for the National Audubon Society, a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and the only person to have received the American Birding Association’s lifetime achievement award twice.

A fresh look at the early days of American Ornithology