Synopses & Reviews
The only field guide to bring along to identify the birds, mammals, trees, wildflowers, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish, spiders, mushrooms, ferns, rocks, and sky of the Midwest Even if we focus on certain things in the outdoors, most of us are curious about everything else that might turn up. Serious birders, botanists, and entomologists all have their specialized guides, but this book isand#160;the guide to andldquo;everything elseandquot;andmdash;the one guide to take when you go out for a walk. Wow, thatandrsquo;s a cool-looking mushroom. Wonder what it is. Hey, look at that weird insect.
Birds, mammals, trees, wildflowers, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish, spiders, mushrooms, ferns, grasses, even constellations overhead and rocks underfootandmdash;itandrsquo;s all here. With authoritative yet broad coverage, nontechnical language, and more than two thousand color photographs, this book is an essential reference for nature lovers living in or visiting Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
Review
"An arresting glimpse into one of America's quirkiest subcultures." Outside
Synopsis
At sixteen, Kenn Kaufman dropped out of high school and hit the road, hitching back and fourth across America. His goal was to set a record for most birds seen in a year. Along the way, though, what had been a game became a quest for a deeper understanding of the natural world, as well as the human world. Kingbird Highway is a unique coining-of-age story, combining a lyrical celebration of nature with wild adventures and some unbelievable characters.
Synopsis
At 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. 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. A report of a rare bird would send him hitching nonstop from Pacific to Atlantic and back again. 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. 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. What had been a game became a quest for a deeper understanding of the natural world. 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.
Synopsis
Now revered as one of North America's top birders, Kenn Kaufman hit the road at age sixteen and spent a year crisscrossing the country to see as many birds as he could, in a birding competition known as a "big year." In what has become a classic among birders, this memoir chronicles the subculture of birding in the 1970s and a teenager's search for his place in the world. In a new afterword, Kaufman looks at the evolution of bird-listing since his own big year.
Synopsis
The onlyand#160;field guide for identifying the birds, mammals, trees, wildflowers, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, spiders, mushrooms, ferns, grasses, andand#160;sky of the Midwest.
About the Author
KENN KAUFMAN, originator of the Kaufman Field Guide series, is one of the world's foremost naturalists. andnbsp;andnbsp;
KIMBERLY KAUFMAN is the executive director of Ohio's Black Swamp Bird Observatory and a contributing editor to Birds and Blooms.andnbsp;
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
Preface Chapter 1 Not Quite the West Chapter 2 Finding the Road Chapter 3 A Record for the Breaking Chapter 4 The Tucson Five Chapter 5 California Influence Chapter 6 Just Like Christmas Chapter 7 There's a Birder on the Road Chapter 8 Time of a Rival Chapter 9 Strategy and Hard Weather Chapter 10 To the Promised Landfill Chapter 11 Trucker's March Chapter 12 Shadow of Alaska, Shades of England Chapter 13 Dry Tortugas Chapter 14 The Fall of a Sparrow Chapter 15 Legions in the Sky Chapter 16 A Day As Big As Texas, Part 1 Chapter 16 A Day As Big As Texas, Part 2 Chapter 17 Springtime Fades Away Chapter 18 The Kenmare Convention Chapter 19 A Thousand Miles of Gravel Chapter 20 The Edge of the World Chapter 21 Full Summer Chapter 22 Birdman's Holiday Chapter 23 Spots Before the Eyes Chapter 24 Exhausting the Possibilities Chapter 25 Border Patrol (in entirety) Chapter 26 Close to the End (in entirety)