In 1992, Kenn Kaufman was the youngest recipient of the American Birding Association’s Ludlow Griscom Award “given to individuals who have dramatically advanced the state of ornithological knowledge for a particular region.” In 2008, he received the ABA’s Roger Tory Peterson Award for “a lifetime of achievements in promoting the cause of birding.” He wears many hats, among them: as a volunteer at Black Swamp Bird Observatory in the legendary Magee Marsh Wildlife Area near his home in western Ohio, a bird artist and photographer, the instructor at bird identification workshops all over North America, a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest and Birder’s World, a leader of birding tours on all seven continents, and the author of nine books, including two that many critics consider among the best bird books ever written, Lives of North American Birds and the Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding (new edition 2011). Of this evening’s talk, Kaufmann notes that “Every spring and fall, billions of small birds migrate across North America, completely unnoticed by most humans. Their feats of strength and endurance, and their ability to navigate over long distances with pinpoint accuracy, are almost unbelievable. The total phenomenon may be beyond description, but I’m attempting to describe it anyway: I’m writing a book about migratory birds in spring in eastern North America. In this program, I’ll share insights from my struggle to capture the science and the magic of this vast migration.”
