And so it was for Kenn Kaufman, a bright young high school student who quit the academic life (bored stiff) to explore the one thing that had grabbed and held his attention from an early age - BIRDS.

Kauffman's approach to birding is simple. Work just enough to accumulate funds for travel, then hit the road with your thumb extended and a backpack full of field guides, the cheapest food you can find, and the rudiments of self-hygiene. When I tell you that Kauffman once ate dry cat food to save money, you will understand why the subtitle of this book is "a natural obsession that got a little out of hand." Kauffman is definitely eccentric, though delightfully so, and it quickly becomes apparent that he is in search of more than birds on his journey.

Kauffman's travels take him back and forth across the North American continent, up to Alaska, down into Mexico and occasionally out to sea, where in addition to finding birds he connects and makes friends with a large network of equally obsessed birders. Meet Ted Parker, the wonder kid of the birding world described as a "super being." Then there are Peli and Rose Ann who give him the nickname Kingbird, and the Tuscon Five, Kauffman's band of birding buddies who are willing to drop their college studies at a moment's notice to follow him into the field. Other memorable characters include a falconer turned conservationist, Diana who drives Kauffman to the local dump in search of Mexican crows, and Charlie who "...had not held a regular job in 30 years."

In addition to unusual characters, you will be introduced to the world of "Lists," "Big Days," "Christmas Bird Counts," and "Big Years." Kauffman's own Big Year (a year in which a birder tries to identify as many bird species as possible) is the premise for most of this book, and provides him with the impetus he needs to sort out his dreams, priorities and ambitions.

Finally, you will hear of the inevitable unplanned adventures that occurred as Kauffman hitched his way across the states. Highlights include weathering a rare snowstorm in the Carolinas with his buddy Scott, being stranded on Fort Jefferson island, and a Christmas Bird Count that almost gets him drowned.

My one difficulty with the book, given that I am not a birder, was Kauffman's tendency to rattle off the names of the birds he tracked down. Lacking the knowledge to really understand what he was seeing and getting excited about, the names began to blur together into one long, incomprehensible string for me. However, whenever Kauffman stopped to talk about a bird he particularly admired, the descriptions were always vivid and memorable.

You will come away from Kingbird Highway appreciating not only the birds, but the 17-year old who had the self-awareness and guts to pursue a different sort of dream. Don't miss this book


Once in a Lifetime   September 22, 2001
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

For anyone interested in birds, birdwatching, or following your dreams this is a good read. For a teenager to have such a year as recounted here and be able to write in an entertaining way is truly a treat. Highly recommended.


A Classic in the Making   March 22, 2001
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I usually give books away after I read them, but this is a keeper. I know I will want to read it again, probably more than once. Not only is it inspirational reading for those who love birds, but it's great travel writing and a moving coming-of-age story as well. Not only that, but the illustrations(also by Kaufman) are charmers as well. Kaufman's trip to St. Laurence Island , between Alaska and Siberia, with its spiritual overtones, remains the high point for me. I think this book is going to develop a substantial public. I recommend it to anyone, not just bird folks.


A Great Hitch Across the United States!   December 14, 2000
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Kaufman's FOCUS guide sure pulled me out of an ID problem I couldn't solve with my standard bird guides. Now this book reached out and grabbed me and I could not put it down until I had read it all the way through. Sure he had an obsession, but what a ride that was.


Kerouac with a purpose.   November 2, 2000
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Kenn Kaufman answers the question of what happened to all those scruffy kids who were hitching rides across America in the early 1970s. They grew up. In his case, this story of an epic quest to see more birds in a single year than anyone ever had before, lay in a box 25 years after it was written. Fortunately he decided to dust it off, clean it up and share it with us. I met Kenn once when I was on my own quest to see 400 birds in North America in a single year, about 15 years after he found 666 species, or 671, depending on whose rules you are using. He showed me my first Varied Bunting at the Patagonia Refuge. I got started on this road of bird listing after finding Jim Vardaman's book and reading it about a dozen times. Vardaman beat Kaufman's record with dollars, finding 699 in a single year. Probably Kaufman's book will inspire many more to take up the quest, for the simple reason that he's a far better storyteller. This is an adventure that goes far beyond bird watching. It is a lyrical book of the road, like Kerouac with a purpose. The music of trips remembered by a single song played to death by the AM stations comes ringing back over the years. I remember hitching from Missouri to New York State and hearing "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do," each time I got into a car. Kaufman tops that with the thunder of Jim Morrison's voice warning drivers who just picked him up, "There's a killer on the road." He transforms it into, "There's a birder on the road," but you can feel the discomfort of getting into cars in Southern states to that refrain. A high school dropout, lured by the bird quest at age 16, Kaufman's education about relationships came from statements of disillusion -- confessions to a stranger on an all night drive. It left him wary and ill-prepared for what might have been the real thing. His enduring relationship, the quest to see all those birds, is finally crystalized by a long- hair who listens to Kaufman's tale of why he is hitching from Arizona to New Jersey to see a non-descript shorebird, and lays a John Lennon line on him, "He's got to be good lookin' 'cuz he's so hard to see."