Once there were so many passenger pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) that they blotted out the sky during migration. In the 19th century, there was an estimated 1 billion to 4 billion passenger pigeons inhabiting North America. Now, the passenger pigeon exists only as a cautionary tale against habitat destruction and over-hunting. Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died alone in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914 at the age of 29. What exactly happened to eliminate this once-prolific species from the planet in a matter of decades?
Deforestation
The passenger pigeon made its home in the billion or so acres of old deciduous forest which once covered North America east of the Rocky Mountains in Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia northward into Southern Canada and west to Kansas. The bird would have wintered to the south along the Gulf Coast. Its diet consisted largely of acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts and seeds, as well as berries, buds, corn and the insects and invertebrates found in the forest. The passenger pigeon was a gluttonous eater, probably relying on its sheer numbers to offset loss by predation. By the early 1900s, most of the ancient forest in which they foraged for food had been cleared to make farmlands and railroads and for use of the wood.
Overhunting
According to old records, tens of thousands of passenger pigeons were harvested daily from nesting colonies, despite the fact that the female passenger pigeon laid only one egg a year. The birds were shipped to developing territories in the East, so there was good money to be made in the hunting of the passenger pigeon. In 1855 alone, 300,000 pigeons were sent via the new railways to New York. With a new piece of technology called "the telegraph," the locations of flocks could be broadcast widely to hunters. Some of the hunting techniques were shockingly cruel. One popular method involved using a live decoy. The hunter would sew the bird's eyes shut and attach it to a stool to attract other birds (hence the term "stool pigeon" .) The birds were often captured and used for target practice, then buried in fields and gardens for fertilizer. The last nesting birds were reported in the 1890s in the Great Lakes region. The last reported individuals were shot at Babcock, Wisconsin in 1899, and in Pike County, Ohio on March 24, 1900. Some birds remained in captivity; however, attempts at breeding were unsuccessful. The passenger pigeon was highly gregarious and required a large flock in order to feel comfortable enough to breed.
Overpopulation
A new study conducted by Stanford University has theorized that the bird's very abundance was in part responsible for its downfall. Hunters could easily net hundreds of birds in one toss, or shoot multiple birds with one bullet. The study states that competition with the Native American population staple foods such as nuts and maize may have kept passenger pigeon populations stable. Then, European settlers arriving in the 1500s decimated Native Americans through disease and war. The surplus of food now available to passenger pigeons caused their numbers to explode.
Resource: "Empty of People, Overrun by Pigeons...;" Tina Butler
Resource: The Passenger Pigeon: Stanford Education
Sarah Goodwin-Nguyen - Goodwin-Nguyen is the author of Key West: A Comprehensive Guide to Florida's Southernmost City (Parkscape Press, 2008) as well as an ebook ...
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