[Posted by Chuck Almdale]

They’re still finding new species of birds in the least-explored hinterlands of the world. Many of them are splits – former subspecies raised to full species status on the basis of someone’s research – but some are just plain new to science. The Cundinamarca Antpitta for example, known to the scientific world as Grallaria kaestneri. The species name kaestneri is for Peter Kaestner, the discoverer. On 16 October 1989 Kaestner was poking about in the highland cloud forest of Colombia (doesn’t everyone?) when he heard the bird sing, recognized that he did not recognize the song (yes, he’s that experienced), taped it, played it back, the bird came in to confront the [apparent] bird invading his territory, and Peter saw that it was not a bird known to science (yes, he’s that good).

On 25 May 2023, 33 years after his discovery, Peter – now retired from the diplomatic service – took time off from his avocation of seeing more species of birds in the world than anyone and returned for another look at Grallaria kaestneri, his namesake. The short film below documents that meeting.

He soon returned to his avocation. Nine months later, in February 2024, he spotted an Orange-tufted Spiderhunter, a species in the Sunbird family Nectariniidae, on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao and thereby became the first person in the world to see 10,000 different species of birds. (Yes, he’s that good.)

Peter has recently taken on the role of fund-raising for the American Bird Conservancy, whose mission is to protect bird life throughout the New World, and he, his Grallaria kaestneri and the ABC want to send everyone a book in return (of course) for a donation.

If you’re interested in learning what they have to say, go here. It’s a good organization.