List of birdwatchers
This is a list of notable birdwatchers and of people who are notable in their own right but also happen to be birdwatchers.
First are listed birdwatchers with large life lists, which is based on the number of species of birds each of them has/had seen. Depending on the taxonomic viewpoint, there are 10,585 or 10,928 living bird species recognised.
Large Life Lists
As of 15 January 2020 according to the Surfbirds website, there are 48 birdwatchers who have added 8,000 species of bird or more to their life list. These include:- Claes-Göran Cederlund: 9,675
- Peter Kaestner: 9,308 / 9,240 Discovered the Cundinamarca antpitta, which was subsequently named after him. First birder to see a representative of each of the world's bird families.
- Phoebe Snetsinger: 8,398. First person ever to see 8,000 species. At time of death she was World #1.
- Bernard Master: 8,070 The Chocó vireo is named after him.
Other notable birdwatchers
- Ramana Athreya, birdwatcher and astronomer
- Jim Clements: Author of The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World; 7,200
- John Danzenbaker: A large life list of 7,535
- Richard Koeppel: subject of To See Every Bird on Earth; a life list of over 7,000
- Lee G R Evans, British twitcher and ornithologist
- Dominic Couzens, ornithologist and author
- Mindy Baha El Din, ornithologist and environmentalist
Birdwatchers famous for achievements in other fields
- Joseph H. Acklen, U.S. Representative from Louisiana
- Damon Albarn, English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer
- Simon Armitage, British poet, playwright and novelist
- Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist
- John James Audubon, ornithologist and painter
- Bill Bailey, English comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author
- Sean Bean, English actor of stage and screen
- Stephen Breyer, United States Supreme Court Justice
- Alan Brooke, British Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War
- Jimmy Carter, President of the United States
- Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
- Agatha Christie, Author and playwright
- Kenneth Clarke, British Conservative politician
- Jeremy Clarkson, English broadcaster, journalist and writer
- Jarvis Cocker, English musician and frontman for the band Pulp
- Wes Craven, American film director
- George Crook, 19th century U.S. Army General
- Peter Cushing, English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films and Star Wars
- Fyfe Dangerfield, English musician and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the indie rock band Guillemots
- Jared Diamond, American geographer, evolutionary biologist, physiologist, lecturer, and nonfiction author
- Cameron Diaz, American actress and former model
- Robert Dougall, newsreader and announcer
- Alec Douglas-Home, British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister from October 1963 to October 1964
- Bill Drummond, South African-born Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- Richard Feynman, American theoretical physicist
- Ian Fleming, English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer
- Anna Ford, jounalist and television presenter
- Jonathan Franzen, American novelist and essayist
- Guy Garvey, English singer and guitarist in the band Elbow, presenter for BBC 6 Music and A&R manager of Skinny Dog Records
- Murray Gell-Mann, Leading Theoretical Physicist, Nobel Laureate in Physics
- Graeme Gibson, Canadian novelist
- Jimi Goodwin, English bassist, vocalist and guitarist for Doves
- Trudie Goodwin, English actress
- Benjamin F. Goss, Legislator, officer in the American Civil War
- Crawford Greenewalt, president of DuPont
- Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, British Liberal statesman
- Daryl Hannah, American actress
- Ian Harding, American actor, Pretty Little Liars, author of Odd Birds
- Michael Heseltine, Welsh-British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group
- Mick Jagger, English musician, singer, songwriter and actor, best known as lead vocalist and founding member of the Rolling Stones
- Norman Lamont, British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston upon Thames
- Meriwether Lewis, Explorer
- Phil Liggett, Cycling commentator
- Joanna Lumley, English actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author
- Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician and broadcaster
- Steve Martin, Writer, comedian, musician
- Per Martin-Löf, Swedish mathematical scientist
- Ernst Mayr, Evolutionary biologist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, historian of science
- Rory McGrath, British comedian and writer
- Eric Morecambe, English comedian
- Elliot Morley, Former Labour Party politician
- Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician
- Sir Andrew Motion, English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009
- Victor Muller, Dutch entrepreneur, CEO Spyker Cars
- Tig Notaro, Stand-up comic and actor
- Patrick O'Brian, Author
- Bill Oddie, Actor, author, comedian, television presenter
- Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President George W. Bush
- Neil Peart, Canadian musician, drummer/songwriter for Rush
- Roger Tory Peterson, Invented the first user-friendly field guide; noted mainly for his books studying birds and promoting birding
- George Plimpton, Author
- Vic Reeves, English comedian
- Debby Reynolds, British veterinary surgeon
- David Ridgen, Canadian filmmaker
- Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, was a Brazilian-Portuguese naturalist
- Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
- Richard Rorty, American philosopher
- Mark Salling, Actor and musician
- Alison Steadman, English actress
- John Stott, Author, theologian and evangelical leader
- Lili Taylor, American actress, American Birding Association board member
- Laura Wade, British playwright
- James D. Watson, Nobel laureate, molecular biologist, and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA
- Samuel West, British actor and director
- E. B. White, Author