The Most Unbelievable Extinction

How the Passenger Pigeon Met its End

Dec 19, 2008 Catherine Owen

The Passenger Pigeon was once the most numerous bird species in North America. By 1914, it was extinct. What did the bird look like and how did this tragedy happen

When one thinks of species that have become extinct or are in danger of extirpation, one often imagines that it is because the animal reproduces so infrequently, or that there are only a small number of such animals left. Such was not the case with the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius). It reproduced frequently and existed in immense numbers. Then suddenly, in 1914, it was thoroughly wiped out. Why did this seemingly impossible extinction occur ?

What the Passenger Pigeon Looked and Acted Like

The Passenger Pigeon was a beautiful bird, strong of wing, coloured a gray-blue on its back and head while its breast feathers were reddish or honey hued. Up until the mid 19th century, the bird seemed to be a victorious species. Possessed of a vast territory, the entire span of forested area crossing North America, the pigeons traveled in vast flocks, filling trees with up to a hundred nests each.

The pigeons ate acorns, nuts, seeds, berries and insects. They flew energetically and at great speeds. Both sexes raised their young, each secreting the milk that the chicks required until they could fly. If caged, the pigeons could live as long as twenty five years.

How the Passenger Pigeon Became Extinct

Regardless of how large and healthy an animal population is, if human beings become determined to drive them to extinction or if they kill them ruthlessly with no regard for natural limits, then the species will, within a relatively short span of time, be eradicated. Such was the case with the Passenger Pigeon.

Hunters made incredible amounts of profit off the butchery of this bird. Not only was their meat flavorful, but every part of the bird, from their gizzards to their dung, could be sold as remedies for a wide variety of ailments. One New York merchant from the 1850s reported that, per day, he sold as many as 18 000 birds (Day 36). Each sportsman could destroy up to a million a year.

Many people took up pigeon hunting as a profitable sport, to the point where an industry developed selling traps, nets and decoys. The last devastating hunt took place in 1896, killing over 200, 000 birds, all of which were dumped in a ravine after they rotted when the train derailed. The final pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914 at the age of 29 years.

A species so massive that their bodies had darkened the sun on their extensive migrations was extinct.

Reference: Day, David. The Doomsday Book of Animals: A natural history of vanished species. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, 1981.

http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/passpig.htm

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The Passenger Pigeon