The Passenger Pigeon: A Sad Testiment
According to some estimates there were as many as five billion passenger pigeons residing in North America when the Pilgrims arrived. Now there are none.
I may have been common but I was still pretty.
Description
The Passenger Pigeon was a fair sized bird measuring 17 inches in length. It was a grayish-blue bird with a red breast. Its tail was long and graduated with the feathers narrowing to a point. 
The Passenger Pigeon
Migration
The Passenger Pigeon migrated in huge flocks. It was not uncommon for it to take three days or more for the entire flock to pass over a single spot. Smaller flocks and stragglers would pass over the area for another couple of weeks. It was an impressive sight and noted in many journals. Remember Me
Gold Framed/Matted Print 17x23, Passenger Pigeon
Amazon Price: $69.95 (as of 07/06/2009)
The Passenger Pigeon was once the most common bird in North America, but by 1914 it was extinct.
Factors that Led to the Passenger Pigeon's Demise
There were several factors that lead to the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Many believe that the primary cause was the commercial exploitation of pigeon meat. The bird was a readily available target and easy pickings. Commercial hunters started netting and shooting the Passenger Pigeons, and selling them in the city. They were also captured and used as live targets for target shooting, and buried in fields and gardens for fertilizer. Stool Pigeon
The hunters were quite inventive in their efforts to net large numbers of Passenger Pigeons. Some used a live decoy bird. They would sew its eyes shut, attach it to a circular stool at the end of a stick, raise it up in the air, and then drop it down. The "stool pigeon" would flutter its wings in an attempt to land. Gregarious by nature, the birds flying by try to land by the bird in distress only to get tangled in the hunter's nets. Rather than shoot the netted birds, the hunters would crush their head between their thumb and forefinger. 
Remember Me
The Last Flock
The numbers were dwindling. Conservationists tried to stop the slaughters but what few laws were passed, were not enforced. The last large nesting site was in Petoskey, Michigan. Fifty-thousand birds were killed every day for nearly 5 months. When the few surviving birds tried to set up a new nesting site, they were located and slaughtered as well.The final flock of Passenger Pigeons was wiped out of existence in 1896. The sad fact remains, the hunters knew it was the only surviving flock still in existence. That didn't stop them.
There were a few birds that survived the slaughter but the Passenger Pigeon was highly gregarious. Unless they were in a large flock, they would not breed. Attempts to breed them in captivity failed for the same reasons. The Passenger Pigeons were dying out and at that point there was little that could be done about it.
The Passenger Pigeon: Its History and Extinction
by A.W. Schorger
The Passenger Pigeon: Its History and Extinction
Amazon Price: $47.95 (as of 07/06/2009)
The passenger pigeon, once probably the most numerous bird on the planet, made its home in the billion or so acres of primary forest that once covered North America east of the Rocky Mountains. Their flocks, a mile wide and up to 300 miles long, were so dense that they darkened the sky for hours and days as the flock passed overhead. Population estimates from the 19th century ranged from 1 billion to close to 4 billion birds. Total populations may have reached 5 billion birds and comprised up to 40% of the total number of birds in North America. This may be the only species for which the exact time of extinction is known.
Martha
On September 1, 1914, Martha, the last known Passenger Pigeon died. She had been kept in the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio until her death. She was then frozen and sent to the Smithsonian Institute. Skinned and mounted, she is currently in the museum's archived collection and not on display. Audubon's Masterpieces
Audubon's masterpieces: 150 prints from the Birds of America
Amazon Price: (as of 07/06/2009)
John James Audubon spent a lifetime documenting the behavior of, and drawing the birds of North America. Audubon's Masterpieces is a collection of 150 of his best works.
There are many birds on the endangered list. Do you think we will lose them or have we wised up?
naturegirl7 wrote...
Welcome to the Naturally Native Squids group. Don't forget to add your lens links to the appropriate plexos and vote for them.
Posted October 25, 2008
A_RovingReporter wrote...
Wonderful lens. I feel sad for the passenger pigeon. Am glad you also hightlight other endangered birds. 5*
Posted October 05, 2008
GypsyPirate wrote...
I wish I could say that I am sure we have wised up. Such a sobering thought. You did a wonderful job with this lens, it was good to read, even if it made me sad.
Posted June 18, 2008
About the Author
Lensmaster ElizabethJeanAllen, aka Lizzy Jean, has been a member since March 16 2008, has rated 3,690 lenses, favorited 454, and has created 165 lenses from scratch. Lizzy Jean donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "The Mallard Duck". See all my lenses
Profiles of other extinct birds.
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Carolina Parakeet
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The once abundant Carolina Parakeet was a gregarious bird. They would form large, noisy flocks that fed on cultivated fruits and grains. They would tear apart an apple to get to the seeds, wreck havoc in the grain fields, and strip a corncob of its k...
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Eskimo Curlew
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Once an abundant bird, there hasn't been a reliable sighting of the Eskimo Curlew in over 40 years. There are occasional reports of sightings which allows for the possibility that a small population still exists, but most authorities believe it is ex...
Resources used to construct this page.
Passenger Pigeon: Chipper Woods Bird Observatory
American Museum of Natural History
The Passenger Pigeon: Encyclopedia Smithsonian
by ElizabethJeanAllen
I tell my students to Learn from the Past, Live in the Present, and Plan for the Future. With Squidoo I can do all three.
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