City Birding: True Tales of Birds and Birdwatching in Unexpected Places

by Kenn Kaufman, Kim Todd (Contributor)

Stories by: Kenn Kaufman, Clay Sutton, Marie Winn, Ann Zwinger, Paul A. Johnsgard, Kim Todd, John Nichols, Judith A. Toups, Mark S. Garland, Paul Kerlinger, Julie Zickefoose, Lawrence Kilham, Curtis Badger, Nikki Weinstein, James Gorman, Michael Harwood, Mary DurantThe waterways of New York-New Jersey, the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel-Bridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the French Quarter of New Orleans--all unlikely spots for birdwatching. For the careful observer, however, these urban locations and others like them can be settings for memorable birding experiences. In this unique book, some of the country's best-known birders observe birds in places where thriving bird life comes as a surprise.

Funny, informative, and thought-provoking, the true stories collected here demonstrate the amazing adaptability of birds, which sometimes seem to thrive in almost any setting humans create: city parks, busy marinas, cemeteries, sewage lagoons. They also illustrate the vulnerability of the natural world in an increasingly man-made environment, and show how the excitement of birdwatching can exist in the most unexpected places.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction, Nature

192 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 2003

About the author

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.

Currently, Kaufman devotes most of his time to writing books and painting bird portraits. His paintings have been juried into several prestigious exhibitions. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, a recipient of the Eisenmann Medal from the Linnaean Society of New York, and the only person to have received the American Birding Association's lifetime achievement award twice.

Kaufman resides in Oak Harbor, Ohio with his wife, Kimberly Kaufman, also a dedicated naturalist. Kenn and Kimberly mostly work on separate projects, but they collaborate as the "birding experts" for the popular Birds & Blooms Magazine.

Reviews

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

City birds is a collection of essays from a variety of writers...some professional birders and others just avid hobbyists. I gave it only a 3 because although some of the stories were enchanting sometimes humorous and touching others were a bit of snooze. So unless you are an avid birder (like me)this book may not be for you. However if you can get a cheap copy or check it out at the library there are a few stories that are wonderful including: Metropolitan Mallards, The Magic Hege, Birding on the Bridge, Take me to your Sewage Lagoon, and To Drink from a River/to Swim in the Milky WAy.

[Deborah J. Kainauskas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Older book, some good tips

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of first person accounts of birding (aka birdwatching) in urban areas in the United States. The writers are a number of prominent birders and nature writers, and with the inclusion of nature writers that are not necessarily birders, show a wide range of experience, skill, and approaches to birding. But the main theme is that it is in urban areas, where the mass of concrete, steel and glass make its residents not as attuned to the natural world in its midst. And, truth be told, an environment where a lot of people who consider themselves nature lovers would not think of as rich environments for observing nature.

The urban environments are a wide range. From the dingiest examples of urban blight known as New York-New Jersey harbor to backyards to urban parks. Some of the writers, are city dwellers themselves who delight in showing off their world. Some of them are country mice who are lost in the city, but discover some surprising corners (like Julie Zickefoose in Lincoln Park (Montrose), Chicago). Some are world reknown experts in bird identification. Some have no idea how to use binoculars. But all have the sense of wonder in the world around them, and write to communicate that wonder and joy.

[Louise Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not true urban birding. Most of the sites listed by the authors would require a car to get to.
Let's update this book and list places accessible by foot, bus, and innercity trains.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book, some good writing and some wandering writing.