Two centuries ago, a handful of European-American naturalists trekked around North America, competing to find birds that were still unknown to science. What was that experience like for them? When Kenn Kaufman looked into that period in history as research for his newest book, The Birds That Audubon Missed, he found surprising connections to our own time. Despite all the changes in the world, the adventures of those pioneers have many parallels in the experience of birding today. In this program, Kenn will celebrate discovery and rediscovery, the lure of the unknown, and the endless power of birds to delight and amaze us.

Now a legend among naturalists, 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. Kenn has published 14 books and 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.