This is a great book. Super easy to read and his voice is amazing. I'll throw in a recommendation for Scott Weidensaul's really hopeful A World on the Wing which fundamentally changed how I think about birds, migration, and climate change.
Yes! I have read this book several times and thoroughly enjoyed it every time! My favorite part is when he is sitting on the rocks in Alaska watching the flocks of alcids and other birds flying past….this just epitomizes the freedom he experience in his big year!! Great book, love it!!
Kudos for mentioning Kaufman's book: It is a must read for American birders and birdwatchers. I am more of the latter myself. I read this book back -to-back with Dempsey's "A Supremely Bad Idea," and the two of them made for quite the pleasurable reading experience.
I enjoyed reading Kingbird Highway in my very early days as a birder. I learned a lot from it. I was still attempting to learn the birds at my back yard feeder and reading about bird adventures I couldn't even imagine.
Great, nuanced review of a truly important book! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Kenn Kaufman is a legend in American birding and very rightfully so. Kingbird Highway is a beautifully written book, written in 2000, twenty five years after his youthful Big Year in 1976 when as a 16/17 year old he was utterly fearless, brash and determined. I love how he can write just as though he is “in the moment” but also with the filter of a maturity that that adds a great deal of wisdom and balance. He had learned so much about birds but also so much about life. I’ve read most, if not all of his books and every one has a unique merit. Sometimes it’s a straightforward Bird Guide, sometimes it is a confessional history with much commentary, reflection and sound judgement. I consider his Advanced Birding to be excellent. Dry, scholarly, but essential. I hugely admire that he fought hard in undertaking the translation of his classic Birds of North America (2000) into Spanish, the Kaufman Guía de campo a las aves de Norteamérica (2008). Just try to find a copy of that!! It is wonderful! (I just happened to be using it this afternoon). As for his most recent book , The Birds that Audubon Missed, it is terrific. I could not put it down. The first part is a wonderful recount of nearly 200 years of birding in America from Catesby, Alexander Wilson, Audubon, to present day, with all the court intrigue of a European Monarchy run amok. Extremely well research and just fascinating. He’s a skilled draftsman and gifted artist himself. This book does not disappoint. I enjoyed your review Derek and try to watch each thing you and Ryan put out. Keep up the good work. The unabashed enthusiasm and occasional astonishment at what you’re seeing in the field is truly charming. No matter what our age is, or how long we have been birding, may we all experience unmitigated joy at just……seeing a bird!
I'll have to check this out. It reminds me of a book I read in junior high school called A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins written about the same time period. Fascinating stuff!
I read that, can confirm, it's great. I remember one part of the but because it was so surprising to me. He was like, if I want to see a Chihuahuan Raven I have to go to this landfill in south Texas. It kinda blew my mind at the time, I thought to see different birds you go to natural areas, but no in this case the best way was to go to the most unnatural of areas.
When I read the title, the first thing to come to mind is this giant encyclopedia book for raptors, that's sitting on my shelf. Nothing to do with photography or birding. But it contains the Full 284+ species in the order Falcnoiformes and describes them all with text, images, and maps. The book is a full 945 pages, and weighs about 8 lb. It explains their range, habits, diet, and appearance. And even contains some taxonomy. And does this for each species. The book is Eagles Hawks and Falcons of the World by Leslie Brown and Dean Amadon. Mine is wrapped in duct tape because it's about 35 years old and the hardcovers are degrading a bit. Earliest date I see is 1989. I myself do avian wildlife photography, but since im trapped in the city, not all too much out here :/
Enjoyed this book so much. I've read it a couple of times. It's funny but Kenn is my age so contrasting his experience with mine at that time is pretty interesting.
I hitch-hiked only twice, once from Seattle to Olympia, once from Olympia to Cannon Beach Oregon, both R/T, this would have been the late 70s. Being a young woman, aged 19 and then 20, both times with another woman my age, I was soooo lucky to have wound up safe back at home. In both cases, due in part to sympathetic older people who were a little exasperated by our naivete'. I question just how safe it has ever been even for men to hitch-hike as a regular thing. Back in the day, people also disappeared all the time, some because there weren't as many ways to stay in touch and they didn't always want to be in touch, others because we didn't have the system that investigated that we do now. Aside from that rambling...great video as always and another book I want to read. I'd be curious about your and Ryan's review of The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. While not a book about birding, it is a book about bird behavior, and it makes watching birds so much more fascinating when you take into account the possible why's of it.
Interesting to compare Kenn’s coming of age bird watching experience in the early 1970’s to my own. Quite different in many ways. The original big year story is Wild America by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, published in 1955. I found a hard cover copy in good condition at a book store years ago and snatched it up! They did a hundred day journey mostly by station wagon and a couple of flights all around North America.
Derek, so happy you did a video on this book. I received a copy of Kingbird Highway as a Christmas gift in 2001!!!! Wow, 23 years ago!!! How time has flown by. Loved the book, especially the last chapter. Thanks for all the hard work you and Ryan put in to your channel.
To @winstonthetexasairedale1702 I second your comment here. Derek and Ryan are doing a terrific job, and it is so nice to see two young men who are doing something that is so positive. ... Just don't go hitchhiking across the country, boys. 'Tis not the safe thing to do nowadays.
I am an avid birder and fly fisherman. Your comments about Ken’s getting satisfaction from finding a lot of birds evolving to just enjoying the act of birding is akin to me as a young fishermen keeping count of the catch to the present when I mostly just enjoy the experience. Thanks for the book review.
Nice solid review 👍. Read it about 25 years ago and enjoyed it immensely. Now retired in Thailand and road tripping all over the Kingdom trying to clock as many species as possible. Latest was Streaked Weaver just last week. Thailand #341😂
Hello from BC, read Kingbird Highway about 15 yrs ago and was inspired. Started listing in my 40s, due to living on my wife's family farm, which is a small island, surrounded by sloughs, close to the Fraser river. We are close to 300 species for our patch
I read it some years ago. it felt like it was an ode to hitchhiking and living on the road as much as anything else, definitely an era that seems to have come and gone
It is a great book and one I’ve reread at least once a year. Was at the Greatest Week in American Birding. Love your videos and would have liked to have met you!
Link to the book (As Amazon Associates we do earn from qualifying purchases): amzn.to/4eEdNGX
This is a great book. Super easy to read and his voice is amazing. I'll throw in a recommendation for Scott Weidensaul's really hopeful A World on the Wing which fundamentally changed how I think about birds, migration, and climate change.
Yes! I have read this book several times and thoroughly enjoyed it every time! My favorite part is when he is sitting on the rocks in Alaska watching the flocks of alcids and other birds flying past….this just epitomizes the freedom he experience in his big year!! Great book, love it!!
Yeah that part really made me want to go to Alaska!
Kudos for mentioning Kaufman's book: It is a must read for American birders and birdwatchers. I am more of the latter myself. I read this book back -to-back with Dempsey's "A Supremely Bad Idea," and the two of them made for quite the pleasurable reading experience.
I enjoyed reading Kingbird Highway in my very early days as a birder. I learned a lot from it. I was still attempting to learn the birds at my back yard feeder and reading about bird adventures I couldn't even imagine.
GREAT book!
Great, nuanced review of a truly important book! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Kenn Kaufman is a legend in American birding and very rightfully so. Kingbird Highway is a beautifully written book, written in 2000, twenty five years after his youthful Big Year in 1976 when as a 16/17 year old he was utterly fearless, brash and determined. I love how he can write just as though he is “in the moment” but also with the filter of a maturity that that adds a great deal of wisdom and balance. He had learned so much about birds but also so much about life.
I’ve read most, if not all of his books and every one has a unique merit. Sometimes it’s a straightforward Bird Guide, sometimes it is a confessional history with much commentary, reflection and sound judgement. I consider his Advanced Birding to be excellent. Dry, scholarly, but essential. I hugely admire that he fought hard in undertaking the translation of his classic Birds of North America (2000) into Spanish, the Kaufman Guía de campo a las aves de Norteamérica (2008). Just try to find a copy of that!! It is wonderful! (I just happened to be using it this afternoon).
As for his most recent book , The Birds that Audubon Missed, it is terrific. I could not put it down. The first part is a wonderful recount of nearly 200 years of birding in America from Catesby, Alexander Wilson, Audubon, to present day, with all the court intrigue of a European Monarchy run amok. Extremely well research and just fascinating. He’s a skilled draftsman and gifted artist himself. This book does not disappoint.
I enjoyed your review Derek and try to watch each thing you and Ryan put out. Keep up the good work. The unabashed enthusiasm and occasional astonishment at what you’re seeing in the field is truly charming. No matter what our age is, or how long we have been birding, may we all experience unmitigated joy at just……seeing a bird!
I'll have to check this out. It reminds me of a book I read in junior high school called A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins written about the same time period. Fascinating stuff!
A Walk Across America is a great book as well as the follow up The Walk West; A Walk Across America Part 2.
@@kylegage87 I never knew there was a second book. I ordered a used one off Amazon and can't wait to read it. Thanks for the recommendation!
I need to finish this book.
I read that, can confirm, it's great. I remember one part of the but because it was so surprising to me. He was like, if I want to see a Chihuahuan Raven I have to go to this landfill in south Texas. It kinda blew my mind at the time, I thought to see different birds you go to natural areas, but no in this case the best way was to go to the most unnatural of areas.
Slight correction Tamaulipas Crow not Chihuahuan Raven, which funnily enough are now only occasional vagrants to that dump!
@@AXiong-x7y Thanks, that's what I get for relying on my memory
@@AXiong-x7y That is my go to place for Chihuahan Raven though
One of the best books, ever.
💯
@BadgerlandBirding A Parrot Without a Name is another. Not LSU biased or anything, : )
@@JamesWBeck-gz8ji just checked it out. That looks awesome! First time I’ve heard of that one
When I read the title, the first thing to come to mind is this giant encyclopedia book for raptors, that's sitting on my shelf.
Nothing to do with photography or birding. But it contains the Full 284+ species in the order Falcnoiformes and describes them all with text, images, and maps. The book is a full 945 pages, and weighs about 8 lb.
It explains their range, habits, diet, and appearance. And even contains some taxonomy. And does this for each species.
The book is Eagles Hawks and Falcons of the World by Leslie Brown and Dean Amadon.
Mine is wrapped in duct tape because it's about 35 years old and the hardcovers are degrading a bit. Earliest date I see is 1989.
I myself do avian wildlife photography, but since im trapped in the city, not all too much out here :/
Enjoyed this book so much. I've read it a couple of times. It's funny but Kenn is my age so contrasting his experience with mine at that time is pretty interesting.
I hitch-hiked only twice, once from Seattle to Olympia, once from Olympia to Cannon Beach Oregon, both R/T, this would have been the late 70s. Being a young woman, aged 19 and then 20, both times with another woman my age, I was soooo lucky to have wound up safe back at home. In both cases, due in part to sympathetic older people who were a little exasperated by our naivete'. I question just how safe it has ever been even for men to hitch-hike as a regular thing. Back in the day, people also disappeared all the time, some because there weren't as many ways to stay in touch and they didn't always want to be in touch, others because we didn't have the system that investigated that we do now. Aside from that rambling...great video as always and another book I want to read. I'd be curious about your and Ryan's review of The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. While not a book about birding, it is a book about bird behavior, and it makes watching birds so much more fascinating when you take into account the possible why's of it.
Jennifer Ackerman’s book is brilliant!
I'll have to add that one to the list!
Thank you for the recommendation!
Interesting to compare Kenn’s coming of age bird watching experience in the early 1970’s to my own. Quite different in many ways.
The original big year story is Wild America by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, published in 1955. I found a hard cover copy in good condition at a book store years ago and snatched it up!
They did a hundred day journey mostly by station wagon and a couple of flights all around North America.
What was your experience like with birding in the 70's Greg?
Yeah, that was an interesting book. 👍
Derek, so happy you did a video on this book. I received a copy of Kingbird Highway as a Christmas gift in 2001!!!! Wow, 23 years ago!!! How time has flown by. Loved the book, especially the last chapter. Thanks for all the hard work you and Ryan put in to your channel.
To @winstonthetexasairedale1702
I second your comment here. Derek and Ryan are doing a terrific job, and it is so nice to see two young men who are doing something that is so positive. ... Just don't go hitchhiking across the country, boys. 'Tis not the safe thing to do nowadays.
You're welcome! We appreciate your kind words!
@@RCSVirginia Thanks so much!
I am an avid birder and fly fisherman. Your comments about Ken’s getting satisfaction from finding a lot of birds evolving to just enjoying the act of birding is akin to me as a young fishermen keeping count of the catch to the present when I mostly just enjoy the experience. Thanks for the book review.
You're welcome!
Nice solid review 👍. Read it about 25 years ago and enjoyed it immensely. Now retired in Thailand and road tripping all over the Kingdom trying to clock as many species as possible. Latest was Streaked Weaver just last week. Thailand #341😂
Hello from BC, read Kingbird Highway about 15 yrs ago and was inspired. Started listing in my 40s, due to living on my wife's family farm, which is a small island, surrounded by sloughs, close to the Fraser river. We are close to 300 species for our patch
That sounds epic
I read it some years ago. it felt like it was an ode to hitchhiking and living on the road as much as anything else, definitely an era that seems to have come and gone
It is a great book and one I’ve reread at least once a year. Was at the Greatest Week in American Birding. Love your videos and would have liked to have met you!
Dang! We must have missed you somehow!
Thank you for this book recommendation!
You're welcome!
We got fish crows in new buffalo michigan
Really?
I've met him at a book signing autographing his bird identification manual & read this book. He's Awesome! 💕 A great birder indeed !
He was super cool!
Thank you for the book suggestion.
You're welcome!
If only I had the attention span..
Maybe there's an audiobook lol