![]() It couldn't be blamed on anything except the people who had hunted it so mercilessly for so long. Many people couldn't believe that the once sky darkening, plentiful Passenger Pigeon had gone the way of the dodo. The demise of the Passenger Pigeon left a nation in shock. Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo on Septemat 1pm. ![]() This left only a few remaining birds in zoos. The last wild Passenger Pigeon was shot in Ohio in 1900. The reduction in population seemed to affect their ability to breed, which further shrunk the population. Hunters would soak grain in alcohol and then net the inebriated birds that couldn't fly.īy the 1870's the population was starting to show signs of diminishing. They even had hunting competitions in which the winner killed 30,000 birds. Hunters soon started gathering huge numbers of passenger pigeons to sell as a food source for people in growing cities along the Eastern seaboard. Their breeding colonies were so thick that tree branches would often break under the weight of so many nests. The passenger pigeon’s large numbers and extremely social behavior may have been its Achilles heel. ![]() At first the impact was still minimal.Īs the population of America skyrocketed, so did the need to clear more trees and feed the masses immigrating into America. Once colonies started growing, more forests were cleared for farm fields needed to survive as a colonist. Native Americans had used these birds as a food source for thousands of years with no impact. ![]() When the Europeans arrived in the New World, there were 3 - 5 billion passenger pigeons living in the Eastern Woodlands of North America, making it the most abundant bird species to ever exist on Earth. Martha was placed back in the Smithsonian vault and is no longer on public display. There was a memorial built at the Cincinnati Zoo to remember Martha, and ironically Incus, the last Carolina Parakeet, died in Martha's cage in 1918.Ģ2. She was then removed and taken to the museum vaults until she was redisplayed in 2015 at the Museum of Natural History.Ģ1. Her body was frozen in a block of ice and sent to Washington DC's Smithsonian Institution where she was displayed for some time.Ģ0. Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died in the Cincinnati Zoo on Septemat 1pm.ġ9. It is thought that Martha was 29 years old at the time of her death.ġ8. Martha grew older and people visiting the zoo would often throw handfuls of sand at her to get her to move. George died on July 10, 1910, leaving Martha the sole representative of her once abundant species.ġ6. The last pair was at the Cincinnati Zoo, named after George & Martha Washington. The last wild passenger pigeon was shot with a bb gun by 12 year old Press Clay Southworth in Sargents, Ohio on March 22, 1900ġ5. This gave rise to the term ‘stool pigeon’ which means an ‘informer”, a “tattletale”, or a “snitch’.ġ4. Others would respond to the distressed bird, only to be shot or netted. Taking advantage of their social behavior, hunters would capture a bird, tie its leg to a stool, and place it in an open field. In one organized hunt, people gathered killed over 250,000 passenger pigeons in one day. ![]() Profession hunters were sent to kill the birds in mass numbers and send them back to feed people living in cities.ġ2. Hunting was easy and simply involved pointing a gun in the air and shooting.ġ1. The passenger pigeon was a cheap, common food in colonial times. The nesting colonies were called “cities” because so many birds nested in the same tree, even breaking branches off of trees and leaving over 1 foot of poop under the “city”.ġ0. The flocks were so loud they could be heard several miles away.ĩ. It is estimated they could fly over 60 mph.Ĩ. These flocks that passed by could number over a million, blocking out the sun for hours and leaving bird poop, making it looked like it had snowed on a summer’s day.ħ. The passenger pigeon got its name from the French word, ‘passager’ meaning “passer by” due to its vast migrations.Ħ. The population once numbered between 3 - 5 billion birds.ĥ. They were a member of the Columbidae family which includes pigeons, doves, and the dodo.Ĥ. The female was slightly smaller and all that olive color.ģ. Their back was an olive color with black spots. The male passenger pigeon was 16 inches long with a bluish gray head and orange chest. The passenger pigeon’s range once covered the entire eastern woodland region of North America from Florida to southern Canada, west, ending where the Great Plains began.Ģ. ![]()
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