Otto Widmann

Otto Widmann (June 15, 1841 – November 26, 1933) was an American ornithologist of German origin who was among the first to document the birds of the Missouri region. He published it in 1907 as a Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri after spending years to accumulate notes that were lost in a fire in 1905. He recorded the now restricted Bachman's sparrow in Missouri.

Widmann was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, to Christoph Friedrich and Catherine Baumann. His father was interested in plants and had assembled a large herbarium while working on the estate of the Grand Duke of Baden, an all round naturalist. When Widmann was young he had access to the private library of the Grand Duke and among these were Johann Friedrich Naumann's birds of Germany in 12 volumes with illustrations. At a young age Widmann went collecting bird eggs in the forests around his home but he did not find much time subsequently. Widmann began to study at the lyceum in Karlsruhe from the age of nine to sixteen after which he trained for the apothecary business. After apprenticing for a while he traveled around Europe before graduated in pharmacy in 1864. He then traveled again, learning French and English while studying botany and chemistry. In 1866 he moved to America where he worked as a drugstore clerk in Hoboken. He then moved around and settled in St. Louis in 1867 where he started a drugstore.