Meet author, artist and naturalist Obi Kaufmann, the guest speaker at the inaugural Chirp Wing’s & Wild Things Festival on June 14, 2025. Obi Kaufmann is an award-winning author of best-selling books on California’s ecology, biodiversity, and geography.
Kaufmann will present The Poetry of Emergent Trends in California Bird Ecology during his talk at 3 p.m. on June 14. “From shorebird to songbird, condor to crane, and falcon to flycatcher, California’s 681 bird species represent an avian backdrop of essential ecological functionality,” Kaufmann says. “Without its impressive avian biodiversity, California would not be the land of natural abundance that it is.”
His 2017 book THE CALIFORNIA FIELD ATLAS recontextualized popular ideas about California’s more-than-human world. His following books, THE STATE OF WATER and THE CALIFORNIA LANDS TRILOGY present a comprehensive survey of California’s evolutionary past and its unfolding future. 2023’s THE DESERTS OF CALIFORNIA, and 2024’s THE STATE OF FIRE; WHY CALIFORNIA BURNS are among his most popular and timely books to date. His books have won awards from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and the California Bookstore’s Lifestyle Book of the Year Award. He recently completed artist residencies with the National Park Service, the National Wildlife Federation, and the International Climate Farm School. When he isn’t backpacking, Obi Kaufmann makes his home in Oakland, where he is working on more Field Atlases to come.
With his compelling, interdisciplinary approach and complemented by his signature hand-painted maps, Kaufmann will, in a one-hour presentation on June 14, lay out the strong case for better stewardship and what should be a joyful celebration of California’s unique portfolio of avian biodiversity. Meet with Kaufmann in person and stick around for the opportunity to purchase autographed copies of his book.
