Kenn Kaufman

Kenn Kaufman (born 1954) is an American author, artist, naturalist, and conservationist, with a particular focus on birds.

Born in South Bend, Indiana, Kaufman started birding at the age of six. When he was nine, his family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where his fascination with birds intensified. At age sixteen, inspired by birding pioneers such as Roger Tory Peterson, he dropped out of high school and spent several years hitchhiking around North America in pursuit of birds. This adventure eventually was recorded in a memoir, Kingbird Highway.

Thereafter he spent several years as a professional leader of nature tours, taking groups of birders to all seven continents. In 1984 he began working as an editor and consultant on birds for the National Audubon Society, a connection that continues to this day. Gradually he transitioned from tour leading to a full-time focus on writing, editing, and illustrating, always on nature subjects. His first major book, the Peterson Field Guide to Advanced Birding, was published in 1990. This was followed by another dozen books, including seven titles in his own series of Kaufman Field Guides. His next book, The Birds That Audubon Missed, is scheduled for publication in May 2024.

Books in order of publication:

Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding – (1990)

Lives of North American Birds – (1996)

Kingbird Highway – (1997)

Kaufman Focus Guides: Birds of North America – (2000)

Kaufman guia de campo a las aves de norteamérica

Kaufman Focus Guides: Butterflies of North America (with Jim P. Brock) – (2002)

Kaufman Focus Guides: Mammals of North America (with Rick Bowers and Nora Bowers) – (2004)

Kaufman Focus Guides: Insects of North America (with Eric R. Eaton) –(2007)

Flights Against the Sunset: Stories that Reunited a Mother and Son (2008) 

Kaufman Focus Guides: Field Guide to Nature of New England (with Kimberly Kaufman) – (2012)

Kaufman Field Guide To Nature Of The Midwest – (2015)

A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration (2019)

The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness. Avid Reader Press, 2024.