Dan Koeppel

Dan Koeppel originally wrote about his father in the September/October 2000 issue of Audubon. The story was later adapted for his book, To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession, published in 2005 by Penguin.

Articles by Dan Koeppel

The invention of early home answering machines, such as the PhoneMate, helped birding hotlines take off in the 1950s to 1970s.

Where Have All the Rare Bird Alerts Gone?

December 16, 2021 — Long before eBird, birders simply called up an avian hotline to learn where to chase unusual birds. Today these phone services are themselves sliding toward extinction—with one notable exception.

From Audubon Magazine

My Father's Life List

April 05, 2017 — What drives a man to count birds, to travel to 75 countries to count them, to spend a fortune counting them, and to keep counting them?

From the Archives

A Bird Worth the Chase, Even After Death

March 24, 2017 — Dan Koeppel had seen plenty of Mountain Quail—until it became the lone bird on his dad's North American life list. Then it became his nemesis, too.

Journal

5 Days, 5 Nights, 3,000 Miles, and 10 Hours of Sleep—but Who's Counting?

October 14, 2011 — Contestants in the Great Texas Birding Classic face off in fierce competition. The real winners, though, are the birds themselves.