In early February, 70-year-old Peter Kaestner introduced he had damaged birdwatching’s most mind-boggling report. He had simply noticed his 10,000th species.
Then shockingly, Kaestner found that he had been pipped to the publish. Another birder, an almost full unknown in the neighborhood till importing a life listing of some 9,000 species in October 2023, claimed to have noticed his 10,000th species just some hours earlier than.
Raised eyebrows
Birding is a passion that folks pursue in several methods. Those who monitor their sightings and seek for uncommon birds, like Kaestner, are generally referred to as “listers.” Listers usually use web sites like eBird or iGotTerra to trace their sightings and “life lists.” These public web sites characteristic leaderboards that foster competitors, however they don’t do a lot to examine the veracity of sightings. Largely, birders/listers function on belief.
So when Jason Mann bulk uploaded his life listing of over 9,000 birds after which quickly accelerated towards the magical 10,000 threshold, it raised some eyebrows. While Kaestner was well-known within the lister neighborhood, publicizing his findings on-line over many years, nobody appeared to know Mann. When Mann introduced he had seen his 10,000th species just some hours earlier than Kaestner, individuals understandably discovered it onerous to consider.
This picture of an orange-tufted spiderhunter marked Kaestner’s 10,000th fowl species. Photo: Peter Kaestner
The on-line neighborhood started to look at each males’s lists in-depth. A very spirited dialogue broke out on the Bird Forum website. The thread is at over 430 posts and nonetheless going sturdy.
The luckiest birder on this planet, or one thing fishy?
Perhaps inevitably, there have been a couple of species on each males’s lists that provoked skepticism. But Mann’s listing had by far essentially the most questionable species. He had included some birds that folks had not noticed in a long time, such because the New Caledonian Nightjar, a species seen solely as soon as, in 1939. Mann’s listing additionally had far much less documentation to help every sighting when put next with Katesner’s substantial on-line footprint over many years.
In gentle of some inaccuracies noticed in his life listing, Kaestner trimmed his listing by a few species however remained above 10,000 as he continued to journey and fowl watch.
The furor should have reached Mann, who finally posted on Bird Forum and conceded defeat.
“Clearly, I made some errors when inputting my sightings into iGoTerra. New Caledonian Nightjar, for example. I’m not sure how that happened…[I] recognize that in haste there were a few oversights,” Mann wrote. “I think it best to put my support behind Peter [Kaestner] as the first birder to 10,000.”
Peter Kaestner marks his 10,000th species. Photo: Peter Kaestner
However, Mann, an American physician dwelling in Hong Kong, stands by nearly all of his listing. At near 10,000 birds, it will be a outstanding achievement, not least due to his obscurity in a close-knit neighborhood of “big listers.”
The IOC World Bird List comprises a complete of 11,194 species, so each Mann and Kaestner’s figures signify roughly 90% of the world’s species.
