![]() ![]() Some researchers believe it wouldn’t have mattered by that point since the birds seemed to require very large colonies for successful breeding, their population may already have dipped below a sustainable level before anyone realized there was a problem. Even though conservationists raised an alarm, very little was done to stop the hunting. Because birds nesting by the hundreds of thousands or millions in a confined area were such an easy target-and, perhaps, in “retaliation” for destroying crops-farmers and hunters began to trap and kill passenger pigeons in huge numbers, selling them (very cheaply) for meat.īy the mid-1800s, the number of passenger pigeons was already dwindling noticeably, but this only increased the rate at which they were destroyed-sometimes as many as tens of thousands per day for months on end. This had relatively little effect on the birds’ overall population, but it did restrict their habitat. As European settlers and their descendants moved across the continent, they cut down many of the trees that had provided food and shelter for the passenger pigeons. This behavior, however, became their undoing once the human population began to balloon in North America. So Much for Safety in Numbersīecause the birds always stayed in large groups, the small animals that were their main predators posed little threat they could never kill enough of a flock to threaten the group’s survival. Around the beginning of the 16th century, passenger pigeons may have constituted as much as 40% of the bird population of the United States-up to 5 billion individuals-and, according to some estimates, were in fact the most numerous bird on Earth. When a flock migrated, it moved in an almost solid unit that could stretch for 300 miles (500 km) observers frequently remarked that they darkened the sky for days at a time. A roosting colony could comprise well over one million birds and cover more than 800 square miles (2000 sq km) of forest, with as many as 100 nests per tree. They were extremely social animals that liked to live and travel in large groups at all times. They could fly unusually fast-upwards of 60 mph (about 100kph)-though they did not use this speed for hunting they ate mostly nuts, seeds, and berries. Passenger pigeons, a relative of the Mourning Dove, were remarkable in several respects. The scientific name is Ectopistes migratorius, which means, more or less, “migrating wanderer.” The adjective form of passage is passager, and this apparently became “passenger” in English via folk etymology. Rather, the name apparently comes from the French word passage, which means, roughly, “passage” (or “transit” or “crossing”) it referred to the birds’ massive and frequent migrations. The word “passenger” in the name does not mean the pigeon liked to hitch rides on other animals (nor should the passenger pigeon be confused with the carrier pigeon, an entirely different animal). ![]() What’s even more extraordinary is that just a century or so earlier, passenger pigeons had been more numerous than any other bird in North America-numbering in the billions. It’s rather unusual, to say the least, that we should have such detailed and precise information about the moment when a species meets its demise. We even know the last bird’s name: Martha. In fact, we know exactly when and where the species went extinct: Tuesday, September 1, 1914, at 1:00 P.M. The last passenger pigeon in the world died just over 100 years ago. So by way of penance, allow me to present the poop (as it were) on passenger pigeons. She kept reading-and I kept saying “Wow.” Even I had to admit, yes, the story of the passenger pigeon is quite interesting. After the first couple of items, I thought, “Yeah, OK, that’s a bit interesting, but if that’s all there is to it…” Only it wasn’t. Finally, she started reading some facts off a webpage. She kept insisting that no, really, this particular kind of extinct pigeon is truly fascinating, and I kept displaying a complete lack of enthusiasm. So are lots of animals, and that’s very sad, but it still doesn’t make them particularly interesting to the general public. “But passenger pigeons are extinct,” she said. How interesting can pigeons be? There are bazillions of them out there-I practically trip over them walking down the sidewalk every day. Even though my wife, Morgen, is an endless fount of interesting topics, when she suggested that I write about passenger pigeons, my first reaction was a yawn. John (Ectopistes migratorius (passenger pigeon) 5), via Wikimedia Commons ![]()
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