The Birdman of Koshkonong

For all of his achievements, Kumlien never gained the widespread notoriety of Wisconsin naturalists John Muir, Increase Lapham, or Aldo Leopold. Kumlien did his work behind the scenes, content to spend his days in the marshes and swamps rather than in the public eye. He once wrote that he was not “cut out for pretensions and show in the world.” Yet, his detailed observations of the Midwest’s natural world—including the impact of early agriculture on the environment—were hugely important to the fields of ornithology and botany. As this carefully researched and lovingly rendered biography proves, Thure Kumlien deserves to be remembered as one of Wisconsin’s most influential naturalists.

"Like finding a rare orchid, Martha Bergland has unveiled a rare and important naturalist during the early settlement years in Wisconsin. Fellow Swede Carl Linnaeus, considered the ‘Father of Botany,’ would have nodded in approval at Thure Kumlien’s contributions in helping us understand the biological riches found in early Wisconsin."

—Tom Anderson, author of Learning Nature by a Country Road

"Our image of nineteenth-century wildlife is filtered through John James Audubon, but other pioneer naturalists—less flamboyant and more rooted to a single landscape—fill in the rest of the picture. In The Birdman of Koshkonong, Martha Bergland rescues Thure Kumlien from history’s shadows and gives the Midwest’s own Audubon his due."

—John Hildebrand, author of The Heart of Things: A Midwestern Almanac