On this episode you’ll hear from Peter Kaestner, the birder who has seen more species of birds than any living human, using the IOC checklist currently shown on IGoTerra Peter lists 9,729 of the 10,933 extant species on the IOC checklist. That is 89% of the living species in the world. I had thought that there must not be any places Peter could go and find more than a handful of new “lifers” but I was wrong. Peter has trips planned to the Phillipines and Viet Nam where he hopes to add more-or-less 50 new species to his list in each place.
Peter worked for a career for the U.S. Diplomatic Service. Before hearing Peter talk on my recent cruise to Antarctica I had little idea of what a career as a U.S. diplomat involved. It was a great career for Peter, leading him to life and see areas of the world most of us will never experience.
Peter and his wife now often travel for pleasure and birding, as well as diving, and Peter also works for Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures as a part-time guide. This gives him the chance to help others experience the world of birding, as well as travel extensively.
You can reach Peter via e-mail. He keeps his e-mail address current on his eBird profile. It’s not hard to find him, just look under the explore Top-100 list for the world, all-time. He’s of course #1.
To read about the Antarctica trip, here is a link to my trip report.
As of this time, Peter’s most recent lifer I believe was the endangered and remote Hooded Grebe. You can see a great video of this bird by a previous guest, Paula (and Michael) Webster on YouTube here.
Thanks for listening. As always if you have suggestions for guests you’d like to hear from on the podcast, let me know
Until next time, Good birding and good day!