In a similar vein, we can write of western ducks and mean all the ducks of the West, but the capitalization of Western Tanager signals that we are discussing one particular species.

Any trogon might be described as elegant, but the Elegant Trogon is a specific type.

For example, there are dozens of kinds of blue jays around the globe, but the Blue Jay is a particular species that lives mainly in eastern North America. Ornithologists and serious birders find that such capitalizing brings clarity in discussing the nearly 10,000 species of birds in the world. Editor’s Note: Capitalizing of Birds’ NamesīECAUSE so many kinds of birds are mentioned in this book, we have followed standard scientific practice of capitalizing the names of species. He had planned out for himself, and he knewĮxactly where he was going. Ted Parker was not destined to slow down, ever.Įxcept that he was running on tracks that Adventure and adventurers-Mexico-Biography. Adventure and adventurers-United States-Biography. Kingbird highway : the story of a natural obsession that got a little out of hand / Kenn Kaufman.ġ. The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows: Text and illustrations copyright © 1997 by Kenn KaufmanĪfterword copyright © 2006 by Kenn Kaufmanįor information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016. Read moreįirst Houghton Mifflin paperback edition 2006 Kingbird Highway is a unique coming-of-age story, combining a lyrical celebration of nature with wild, and sometimes dangerous, adventures, starring a colorful cast of characters. What had been a game became a quest for a deeper understanding of the natural world. His goal was to set a record-most North American species seen in a year-but along the way he began to realize that at this breakneck pace he was only looking, not seeing. When he was broke he would pick fruit or do odd jobs to earn the fifty dollars or so that would last him for weeks.

A report of a rare bird would send him hitching nonstop from Pacific to Atlantic and back again. Maybe not all that unusual a thing to do in the seventies, but what Kenn was searching for was a little different: not sex, drugs, God, or even self, but birds. An ornithologist’s account of his youthful, year-long, cross-country birdwatching adventure: “A fascinating memoir of an obsession.” - BooklistĪt sixteen, Kenn Kaufman dropped out of the high school where he was student council president and hit the road, hitching back and forth across America, from Alaska to Florida, Maine to Mexico.

Kingbird highway by kenn kaufman