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Spark Bird: Kenn Kaufman
Learning local birds in the Pre-Internet Era
© Skip Russell
As a young child, Kenn Kaufman ventured into his neighborhood in search of the tigers, bears, and dinosaurs, but quickly found that Indiana doesn’t have those. So he set his sights on the next best thing: figuring out which birds were in his family’s yard. Though he’s now a world renowned birder and field guide author, he says his progress was slow. Today’s novice birders have access to mobile apps and websites that put photos, bird calls, and range maps at your fingertips. But whatever tools you choose, Kenn says there’s no substitute for getting outside and experiencing the birds for yourself.
BirdNote®
Spark Bird: Kenn Kaufman
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
[Birdsong in Wichita, ML 386591261]
As a young child, Kenn Kaufman ventured into his neighborhood in search of the tigers, bears, and dinosaurs he read about in nature books… but quickly found that Indiana doesn’t have those. So six-year-old Kenn set his sights on the next best thing:
Kenn Kaufman: I decided that I would take a day or two and figure out what these birds were out there in the yard. And it took me a couple of weeks to figure out the difference between a grackle and a starling. But once I had that down, I was the only person on the block who knew that.
[European Starling song, ML289014911]
Though he’s now a world renowned birder and field guide author, Kenn says his progress was slow. It was difficult to find resources for identifying the birds he saw.
Kenn Kaufman: Getting into birding is much easier than it was when I started. You can go online and find recordings of almost every bird species in the world.
[Common Grackle song, ML 213616, 0:09-0:12]
Today’s novice birders have access to mobile apps and websites that put photos, bird calls, and range maps at your fingertips. Whatever tools you choose, Kenn says there’s no substitute for getting outside and experiencing the birds for yourself.
Kenn Kaufman: That direct connection, I think, is really important. Paying attention to the birds around you is going to make your life more three dimensional and more exciting, and they can bring more beauty into your life. And I would just urge everyone to try it. You don't have to become a serious birder. I would love to have everyone in the world just appreciate the beauty that's out there and just the wonder of these little creatures that we share this planet with.
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Carolina Wren ML 386591261 recorded by L. Hoffman, European Starling ML 289014911 recorded by M. Wistrand, and Common Grackle ML 213616 recorded by B. McGuire.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote October 2022 November 2024
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# sparkbird-20-2022-10-24 sparkbird-20
Ariana Remmel
Writer Narrator
