Kenn burst onto the North American birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s hitch-hiking all over the continent in pursuit of birds, an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After several years as a professional bird tour leader taking groups to all seven continents, 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 13 books include seven titles in his own series, Kaufman Field Guides which are designed to encourage beginners by making the first steps in nature study as easy as possible. His next book is The Birds That Audubon Missed scheduled for publication in May 2024.

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

Recently the American Ornithological Society announced a shift in how some English bird names would be applied. Eponymous names – referring to individual humans, like Swainson’s Thrush or Wilson’s Plover — will be phased out and replaced with more descriptive names. What do you think about that?