Thure Ludwig Theodor Kumlien (November 9, 1819 – August 5, 1888) was a Swedish-American ornithologist, naturalist, and taxidermist.

He taught botany and zoology, as well as foreign languages, at Albion Academy, and was particularly regarded as an expert in the identification of birds’ nests.

Thure Kumlien was born in 1819 in the parish of Härlunda in Västergötland, Sweden, the oldest of fourteen children in an aristocratic Swedish family.

[3] He took an early interest in natural history and collected many specimens, particularly from the Baltic islands, sending them to Hermann Schlegel of Leiden; Wilhelm Peters of Berlin, Carl Jakob Sundevall of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, and John Cassin of Boston were among his other correspondents.

[3] Not long afterward, drawn by letters written by the minister of a local parish, he came to the Lake Koshkonong area of Wisconsin.

[4] He began with a collection acquired by the Boston Society of Natural Sciences in 1854, and expanded his reach to Europe, sending specimens to such scientists as Elias Magnus Fries of Uppsala and Thomas Mayo Brewer.

[1] In spite of the recognition and the regard he received from the scientific community, he lived in tight financial circumstances nearly all of his life.