Jon Fjeldså

Jon Fjeldså (born 13 December 1942) is a Norwegian-born Danish ornithologist and bird artist. Fjeldså has authored several books and published numerous research papers, primarily focusing on grebes, birds of the Andes and Eastern Arc Mountains, and evolution of passerines. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Early life and military service Jon Fjeldså was born in southwestern Norway in Hauge to two Danish parents, Anine Knudsen and Per Fjeldså, and grew up in Bodø. Per Fjeldså would often take his sons on nature trips to look at animals, and early on Jon became particularly interested in birds. His focus on grebes started when he was young and found a trusting pair of horned grebes, allowing him to closely observe their behavior.

Later life and ornithology After leaving the Norwegian army, he began to study biology at the University of Bergen, graduating in 1970. He then joined the Copenhagen Zoological Museum in Denmark as a curator, inspired by Finn Salomonsen and its international research. In 1974, he published his PhD thesis on the horned grebe and the following year he received his doctorate at the University of Copenhagen. He became a professor of zoology at the University of Copenhagen in 1996.