A delight to immerse myself into what turned out to be a biography of John James Audubon, which I requested because I’m a fan of birds and the occasional birder. The author was after working out, as the title says, why Audubon missed identifying so many birds that he likely encountered that were unknown to Western science (but were, of course, known to Indigenous Americans for possibly centuries). Not only that, but it turns out, as I learnt from this book, Audubon also invented at least one bird, the Washington Eagle or Bird of Washington, and also misidentified many, many others in the course of his explorations. So, this is a portrayal of a man who did great work on the North American continent, but who turned out to be, as we all are in the end, flawed: frequently dishonest in his competitiveness (particularly versus that other great ornithologist, Alexander Wilson), and egotistical and greedy for fame, leading to his not always making the best professional decisions. But Audubon was nothing if not immensely interesting, and that makes for an entertaining read.

There are black-and-white illustrations throughout the digital ARC I read—which is a pity, as I think colour would have added something really special. The author, an artist, tells of his initial pursuit, eventually given up, of imitating Audubon’s style—an interesting subplot. We learn how Audubon achieved his illustrative style and what was so special about it for science, as well as about those who assisted him in producing the illustrations. There is an excellent exploration of the milieu Audubon worked in: all of the ornithological rivalry; the structure and functioning of (white) North American society and relations across “the pond”; and of course the birds themselves—huge flocks, now not so commonly seen; great variety; and some species now extinct.

It is all very fascinating, and well worth your time, even if you’re not a fan of birds or occasional birder; this is excellent history, and a great biography of Audubon. Many thanks to Avid Reader Press and to NetGalley for access to the DRC.

Birding has become quite the phenomenon in America, especially for people of certain generations, and all the more so during and since the pandemic. And one of the great trials involved with getting into birding is all the bird species.

Some bird species names make sense. The Ring-billed Gull has a ring around its bill. The California Scrub-Jay is a member of the jay family which favors the scrub land of California. Acorn Woodpeckers love stashing acorns everywhere. But then you have the Lewis’ Woodpecker, the Stellar’s Jay, and many other similar names which clearly encode some kind of history.

And it’s that history which has come under a lot of discussion and dispute these days. Kenn Kaufman’s The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness tells the history of the development of American ornithology, and how a lot of said birds obtained their current appellations.

The book’s catalyst involved the author’s fascination with John James Audubon’s paintings preserved in his The Birds of America, which have been recognized for some time as some of the best ever made. But Audubon did not actually draw up every species in North America, not even every species in the American east. Thus the author intended to draw what Audubon did not and detailed the story of how he had missed them.

That story ends up becoming the story of ornithology in general and the development of the understanding of bird life in North America. The author described the Linnean system and how it developed, along with its competitors. The Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century quite optimistically imagined they could analyze and organize all of life, and the Linnean system is its result.

The story of understanding American birds had many characters, of whom Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon would prove among the most significant. Wilson did a lot more of the work, but ultimately Audubon would become known as the greatest, mostly because of the quality of his work.

Today we have the benefit of all the work which has been done over the past few hundred years to make sense of the birds of North America. Yet in this book we see all the frustrations and misdirections which attended to the process. They could tell some species were quite similar to those from Europe; yet many others proved quite different. Figuring that out would prove challenging. Many American birds look different at different seasons; sometimes they would be mistaken for different species. People did not understand American bird migrations very well (to this day we still are learning more), compounding the difficulty.

And, of course, on top of that, was the intense competitive spirit of Wilson and Audubon in their quest to find and identify new species of birds, and especially Audubon.

Thus throughout the author describes the life and work of Audubon, somewhat of Wilson and some of the other major early American ornithologists, and their adventures and misadventures. The author also provides interludes about illustrating and many of the aspects which go into it.

The author does well at recognizing what was done and many of its more problematic aspects. The killing of so many birds was a feature of the age. And the naming after themselves and people in their association.

The naming has become quite the issue among modern birders; the goal has been advanced to re-name in English all birds which were given names involving people (i.e. the Lewis’ Woodpecker, Stellar’s Jay, Woodhouse’s Jay, Brandt’s Comorant, Baird’s Sandpiper, and many others).

This has proven controversial, of course, and many protest and ask about the need. But Kaufman has done well to show how recent a lot of these names are, and how names were often adapted and changed over time. This book should give some comfort to those who tend to be more enamored with modern names and encouragement in the work to provide names which better describe the birds rather than the intense competition to “find” and name them.

This is a great history of the author’s passion about birds, how American birding has come to be as it is, and the stories of discovery and further exploration. A great resource for those interested in birding.

I was worried at the beginning, that this might be a hit job on Audubon. Not because of the title, but because so much has come out in the media about him lately in a negative sense. But I was very happy with the balanced way Kaufman handled it. And other controversy regarding historical figures in the history birds. In the end, I think he handles things fairly.
“We would need a certain level of maturity, as individuals and as a society, to recognize great deeds while fully acknowledging the flaws of those who did them. Audubon is not a hero to me, not a role model. But I don’t advocate for throwing his artwork away.”
This seems to me, to be keeping with his overall message. There were good reasons Audubon “missed” birds when you take his (and his contemporaries) within their time and limits of what they had to work with.

I am fascinated by birds and this book took me down so many rabbit holes. This book is incredibly readable. Kaufman's writing is engaging and I learned so much about Audubon (much of which was pretty disturbing), naming of birds, and the history of bird classification. Kaufman is clearly brilliant, but he doesn't expect the reader to know what he does. The book was broken up nicely and it was fun to hear about Kaufman's experimentation with recreating Audubon's art. I don't think this is the last book by Kaufmann I'll read. Highly recommend for any level of bird enthusiast. Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

I’ve enhoyed everything of Kaufman’s I’ve read, and this was no exception. He weaves history and personal birding together beautifully.