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Fw: [Fwd: [birdwords] A note from Kenn Kaufman]



The following came from TNNBIRDS and I thought Carolinabirds folks would
like to see it.

Judy Murray
Chapel Hill, NC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Williams wrote:

> Last week I had an opportunity to visit on the telephone with Kenn Kaufman
> about his new field guide. He now has sent me the comments below, asking
> that I share them with you.
> Jim Williams
> Associate editor, Birding
> €€€€€€
>
> A COINCIDENCE IN TIMING AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BIRDING
> AND BIRD CONSERVATION
>
> By now you're all aware that two new major bird guides are being
> published this fall. David Sibley's guide and my guide have different
> approaches, different target audiences, and different publishers, and
> originally they had different schedules as well. I had assumed that
> David's book would be out at least a year before mine. But schedules
> shifted, and now the imminent "official" publication dates for these two
> (Sept. 22 and Oct. 3) are separated by only eleven days.
>
> Although I couldn't have predicted this, the convergence in timing is
> creating some potential opportunities for bird clubs and nature
> organizations. Here's why. David is a friend of mine, and his book
> and my book are so different that they're hardly in any kind of
> competition. But, try telling the publishers that! Several months ago
> I began to realize that the two publishers were eyeing each other
> suspiciously, and it's my impression that they began to ratchet up their
> plans for promotion, each attempting to outdo the other. As it stands
> now, both David and I will be crisscrossing the continent (separately,
> of course!) for lectures, book signings, radio and television
> appearances, press interviews, et cetera. This is certain to be
> grueling for the authors, but as a result, for several months there will
> be a LOT of publicity for birding in general.
>
> To me this is a fantastic opportunity to bring more people into birding,
> and I hope that organizations will find ways to take advantage of it.
> Perhaps local events could be linked to membership drives somehow;
> or when there's a national story, perhaps local media could be
> convinced to tie it to announcements of local meetings, field trips, or
> classes. I'm glad to do what I can to help out with this. (Example:
> last week I had a two-hour interview with one of the Tucson
> newspapers, and I used the opportunity to promote the Tucson
> Audubon chapter, the work of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona, the
> work of the American Birding Association, and the importance of
> getting CARA passed by the U.S. Senate. Who knows whether they'll
> print all that, but at least I tried.) As I travel, I'll be happy to put
in
> good words for local or regional bird / nature / conservation groups if
> I'm aware of them in advance; anyone involved in such a group is
> welcome to e-mail me at kennk@ix.netcom.com (and with luck I'll
> be able to check e-mail somewhat regularly while on the road).
>
> I'm a very strong believer in the point that Roger Tory Peterson made
> so often: that we can advance the cause of conservation by bringing
> more people to an appreciation of birds. That's my whole motivation
> right now. I don't care much about selling books, but I'll gladly put out
> the effort to sell people on the idea of birding. This "publicity war"
> between the publishers may be just a coincidence, and kind of silly
> in a way, but let's take advantage of it to promote the causes of
> bird appreciation and conservation.
>
> Kenn Kaufman
> Tucson, Arizona
>
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