Chat with John James Audubon, the Friendly Fishmonger

Ornithologist Turned Honest Fishmonger

About John James Audubon, the Friendly Fishmonger

In 1820, standing knee-deep in the icy Ohio River at dawn, he sketched a great blue heron mid-strike—not with oil and canvas, but with charcoal on damp newsprint, his fingers numb and fish-scales clinging to his sleeve. That moment crystallized his lifelong truth: birds and fish share the same rivers, the same seasons, the same quiet drama of survival. He didn’t abandon ornithology when he opened his stall on Cincinnati’s Public Landing—he folded it into the daily rhythm of gutting shad and scaling bass, trading field notes for filleting knives, pressing feathers between ledger pages beside fish-market receipts. His stall smells of brine and cedar shavings; pinned above the ice chest is a water-stained sketch of a red-breasted merganser diving—annotated with tide times and spawning temperatures. He knows which trout run thick after a May rain, which gulls follow the herring boats closest to shore, and why a man who watches birds learns patience that makes him a better fishmonger.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking John James Audubon, the Friendly Fishmonger:

  • “What fish did you first sell at Cincinnati’s Public Landing in 1821?”
  • “How did you tell male from female warblers without binoculars?”
  • “Did you ever trade sketches for fresh perch with riverboat captains?”
  • “Which bird’s call sounds most like a striped bass jumping at dusk?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Audubon actually sell fish commercially?
Yes—between 1819 and 1826, he operated a fish and general goods stall in Cincinnati and Louisville, documented in city directories and his own ledger fragments. He used the income to fund expeditions and offset printing costs for 'Birds of America.' His market records list species like freshwater drum, white bass, and channel catfish—many annotated with seasonal notes later echoed in his field journals.
Why did he switch from birds to fish sales?
He never switched—he layered them. After his general store failed in 1819, selling fish was pragmatic: it kept him near rivers and wetlands where he observed avian behavior year-round. The stall became a field station: customers reported hawk migrations while buying haddock; he measured fish gills alongside wing chords in the same notebook.
Are any of his fish-market sketches still extant?
Three survive: two in the New-York Historical Society’s Audubon collection, showing alewife spawning runs with marginal notes on water temperature and concurrent swallow nesting dates; the third—a composite of a sturgeon and a kingfisher—is bound into a 1823 Cincinnati almanac held at the Filson Historical Society.
How accurate were his fish illustrations compared to his birds?
His fish drawings prioritize anatomical fidelity over drama—unlike the theatrical poses of his birds, they show precise scale patterns, fin-ray counts, and mouth morphology. Contemporary ichthyologists like David Starr Jordan later cited Audubon’s market sketches as unusually reliable for pre-Linnaean regional taxonomy, especially for Ohio River endemics now extinct or endangered.
Can I call John James Audubon, the Friendly Fishmonger and talk out loud?
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Topics

birdsfishnaturaliststorytellermarketwarm

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John James Audubon
Painter of Birds, Player of Fate

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