Thirteenth Annual

Florida Keys Birding and Wildlife Festival

September 21 – 25, 2011

Keynote Speakers

Kenn Kaufman

Kenn Kaufman is recognized as one of the world’s most renowned bird experts. He is the author of a very popular nature field guide series and a highly sought after public speaker. Kenn’s move to this area in fall of 2005 generated much excitement across the country, resulting in thousands of birders visiting this region to enjoy the fabulous birding that this area is now becoming famous for. A lifelong naturalist, Kenn Kaufman did not really focus on birds until the age of six, but since then he has tried to make up for lost time, pursuing birds in all fifty states and on all seven continents. Now working as a freelance editor, writer, and book producer, he and his wife Kim make their home in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

Kenn is a field editor for Audubon magazine, and writes regular columns for both Bird Watcher’s Digest and Birder’s World magazines. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects, including his own field guide series, Kaufman Field Guides, published by Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston. This series now includes volumes on North American birds, butterflies, mammals, and insects. In spring 2005, the series was expanded to include the first North American bird guide to be published in Spanish. Kenn’s other books include Lives of North American Birds. Kingbird Highway, and Flights Against the Sunset.

Kenn’s latest book, Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding, is scheduled for publication in Spring 2011, just in time for the festival!

He has also written scores of magazine articles and columns on I.D. topics, and has taught I.D. workshops all over the U.S. and Canada. To learn more about the Kaufman Field Guide series, click here.

Kimberly Kaufman

An Ohio native with a lifelong love of the outdoors, Kimberly spends most of her time promoting research, education, and bird conservation through the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), where she is the Executive Director. As the former Education Director for BSBO, Kim spearheaded the Observatory’s expanding educational programs, with a focus on programs for youth. Her efforts also led to the formation of the Ohio Young Birders Club, a growing statewide organization for teens. In addition to her work in administration and education, Kim has taken part in many research projects. She has spent hundreds of hours monitoring Bald Eagle nests, banded colonial wading birds, taken part in butterfly and breeding bird surveys, and banded many thousands of warblers and other songbirds at the main BSBO study site on the Lake Erie shore. Over the past five years, Kimberly has focused a great deal of effort on the concept of bird-related tourism, and helped to develop The Biggest Week In American Birding: an 11-day, spring birding festival in northwest Ohio. Kimberly will also serve a term as President of the Board of the Visitors’ Bureau for Ottawa County.

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