The female was 380 to 400 mm (15.0 to 15.7 in), and was duller and browner than the male overall. [52] Due to these influences, some ecologists have considered the passenger pigeon a keystone species,[56] with the disappearance of their vast flocks leaving a major gap in the ecosystem. [11][12] It was even suggested that the mourning dove belonged to the genus Ectopistes and was listed as E. carolinensis by some authors, including Thomas Mayo Brewer. As Wallace Craig and R. W. Shufeldt (among others) pointed out, the birds are shown perched and billing one above the other, whereas they would instead have done this side by side, the male would be the one passing food to the female, and the male's tail would not be spread. [75], Beeches and oaks produced the mast needed to support nesting and roosting flocks. [14], The passenger pigeon wintered from Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina south to Texas, the Gulf Coast, and northern Florida, though flocks occasionally wintered as far north as southern Pennsylvania and Connecticut. [107] Native Americans ate pigeons, and tribes near nesting colonies would sometimes move to live closer to them and eat the juveniles, killing them at night with long poles. [22][45] The flocks had wide leading edges to better scan the landscape for food sources. Worms and insects supplemented the diet in spring and summer. [48][55][99][100][101][42], The bird has been written about (including in poems, songs,[A] and fiction) and illustrated by many notable writers and artists, and is depicted in art to this day, for example in Walton Ford's 2002 painting Falling Bough, and National Medal of Arts winner John A. Ruthven's 2014 mural in Cincinnati, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of Martha's death. Nets were propped up to allow passenger pigeons entry, then closed by knocking loose the stick that supported the opening, trapping twenty or more pigeons inside. This would have prevented it from eating some of the seeds of trees such as red oaks, the black oak, and the American chestnut. Billions of these birds inhabited eastern North America in the early 1800s; migrating flocks darkened the skies for days. In 1822, one family in Chautauqua County, New York, killed 4,000 pigeons in a day solely for this purpose. As many as thirty billion trees are thought to have died as a result in the following decades, but this did not affect the passenger pigeon, which was already extinct in the wild at the time. The notable decrease of passenger pigeons started when professional hunters began netting and shooting the birds to sell in the city markets. [111] Another method of capture was to hunt at a nesting colony, particularly during the period of a few days after the adult pigeons abandoned their nestlings, but before the nestlings could fly. The last large nesting was in Petoskey, Michigan, in 1878 (following one in Pennsylvania a few days earlier), where 50,000 birds were killed each day for nearly five months. [51] The passenger pigeon's historic population is roughly the equivalent of the number of birds that overwinter in the United States every year in the early 21st century. Introduced and feral individuals can live in cliff settings, but have found a perfect niche in urban and city living. The surviving adults attempted a second nesting at new sites, but were killed by professional hunters before they had a chance to raise any young. The upper back and wings were a pale or slate gray tinged with olive brown, that turned into grayish-brown on the lower wings. [36][157], The main reasons for the extinction of the passenger pigeon were the massive scale of hunting, the rapid loss of habitat, and the extremely social lifestyle of the bird, which made it highly vulnerable to the former factors. By the early 1890s the passenger pigeon had almost completely disappeared. [9], The passenger pigeon was a member of the pigeon and dove family, Columbidae. The legs and feet were dull red, and the iris was brownish, and surrounded by a narrow carmine ring. The bird fed mainly on mast, and also fruits and invertebrates. The birds depended on the huge forests for their spring nesting sites, for winter "roosts," and for food. One of the last large nestings of passenger pigeons occurred at Petoskey, Michigan, in.1878. The time spent at one roosting site may have depended on the extent of human persecution, weather conditions, or other, unknown factors. The study concluded that earlier suggestion that population instability contributed to the extinction of the species was invalid. Passenger pigeons flew in such large flocks that the sky would darken. [30][124] The pigeon was considered so numerous that 30,000 birds had to be killed to claim the prize in one competition. [142], For many years, the last confirmed wild passenger pigeon was thought to have been shot near Sargents, Pike County, Ohio, on March 24, 1900, when a female bird was killed by a boy named Press Clay Southworth with a BB gun. It is unclear exactly where, when, and by whom these photos were taken, but some appear to have been taken in Chicago in 1896, others in Massachusetts in 1898, the latter by a J. G. Hubbard. They did not have site preferences and each year they choose different nesting sites. [14][36][55], By the time of these last nestings, laws had already been enacted to protect the passenger pigeon, but these proved ineffective, as they were unclearly framed and hard to enforce. I cannot describe to you the extreme beauty of their aerial evolutions, when a hawk chanced to press upon the rear of the flock. Others cut down a nesting tree in such a way that when it fell, it would also hit a second nesting tree and dislodge the pigeons within. The Great Auk Looked (Superficially) Like a Penguin. The naturalists Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon both witnessed large pigeon migrations first hand, and published detailed accounts wherein both attempted to deduce the total number of birds involved. The wanton slaughter of the birds only sped up the process of extinction. It is estimated that there were 3 billion to 5 billion passenger pigeons at the time Europeans discovered America. In the winter the birds established "roosting" sites in the forests of the southern states. The crop was described as being capable of holding at least 17 acorns or 28 beechnuts, 11 grains of corn, 100 maple seeds, plus other material; it was estimated that a passenger pigeon needed to eat about 61 cm3 (3.7 in3) of food a day to survive. "[96] In the 18th and 19th centuries, various parts of the pigeon were thought to have medicinal properties. [82][83] This, and the fact that the related louse C. angustus is mainly found on cuckoo-doves, further supports the relation between these pigeons, as the phylogeny of lice broadly mirrors that of their hosts. At night they returned to the roosting area. Yet by the early 1900s no wild passenger pigeons could be found. Passenger Pigeon, considered as one of the most social land birds, were adept to communal breeding. [78], The colonies, which were known as "cities", were immense, ranging from 49 ha (120 acres) to thousands of hectares in size, and were often long and narrow in shape (L-shaped), with a few areas untouched for unknown reasons. [109] Away from the nests, large nets were used to capture adult pigeons, sometimes up to 800 at a time. About 728,000 km2 (180 million acres) were cleared for farming between 1850 and 1910. Its scientific name is Ectopistes migratorius. It is unclear if the birds favored particular trees and terrain, but they were possibly not restricted to one type, as long as their numbers could be supported. The nests were placed on strong branches close to the tree trunks. This was proven inaccurate in 1999 when C. extinctus was rediscovered living on band-tailed pigeons. [55], The naturalist Charles Dury, of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote in September 1910: "One foggy day in October 1884, at 5 a.m. The large flocks of passenger pigeons often caused serious damage to the crops, and the farmers retaliated by shooting the birds and using them as a source of meat. Thousands of birds were kept in large pens, though the bad conditions led many to die from lack of food and water, and by fretting (gnawing) themselves; many rotted away before they could be sold. [162][164], Media related to Ectopistes migratorius at Wikimedia Commons In 1897 a bill was introduced in the Michigan legislature asking for a ten-year closed season on passenger pigeons. The most often reproduced of these illustrations was captioned "Winter sports in northern Louisiana: shooting wild pigeons", and published in 1875. The last captive birds were divided in three groups around the turn of the 20th century, some of which were photographed alive. [59][92], The passenger pigeon played a religious role for some northern Native American tribes. Data related to Ectopistes migratorius at Wikispecies, An extinct migratory pigeon previously endemic to North America, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, "†Ectopistes Swainson 1827 (passenger pigeon)", 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22690733A93285636.en, "Proposed use of the plenary powers to secure that the name, "The scientific name of the Passenger Pigeon", "Mr. Swainson on several new groups in Ornithology", "The names of the passenger pigeon and the mourning dove", Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, "Miocene and Pliocene birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina in Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, III", "The Biology and Natural History of the Mourning Dove", "The De Novo Assembly of Mitochondrial Genomes of the Extinct Passenger Pigeon (, "The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) in Confinement", "The St. Jérôme Dictionary of Miami-Illinois", Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, "Anatomical and other notes on the Passenger Pigeon (, "The expressions of emotion in the pigeons. [99] The centennial of its extinction was used by the "Project Passenger Pigeon" outreach group to spread awareness about human-induced extinction, and to recognize its relevance in the 21st century. Pigeon meat was commercialized as cheap food, resulting in hunting on a massive scale for many decades. In the fall, winter, and spring, it mainly ate beechnuts, acorns, and chestnuts. [3][4][5] In the same edition, Linnaeus also named C. canadensis, based on Turtur canadensis, as used by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Incidentally, the last specimen of the extinct Carolina parakeet, named "Incus," died in Martha's cage in 1918; the stuffed remains of that bird are exhibited in the "Memorial Hut". It preferred to winter in large swamps, particularly those with alder trees; if swamps were not available, forested areas, particularly with pine trees, were favored roosting sites. The gestures proved futile, and by the mid-1890s, the passenger pigeon had almost completely disappeared, and was probably extinct as a breeding bird in the wild. H. B. Roney, who had witnessed the Petoskey slaughter, led campaigns to protect the pigeon, but was met with resistance, and accusations that he was exaggerating the severity of the situation. The undertail coverts also had a few black spots. Martha, thought to be the last passenger pigeon, died on September 1, 1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo. By 1907, he was down to two female passenger pigeons that died that winter, and was left with two infertile male hybrids, whose subsequent fate is unknown. Because the birds were communal in habit, they were easily netted by using baited traps and decoys. Many eggs were laid by his pigeons, but few hatched, and many hatchlings died. For instance, while the passenger pigeon was extant, forests were dominated by white oaks. [22][51] The pigeon had no site fidelity, often choosing to nest in a different location each year. In these almost solid masses, they darted forward in undulating and angular lines, descended and swept close over the earth with inconceivable velocity, mounted perpendicularly so as to resemble a vast column, and, when high, were seen wheeling and twisting within their continued lines, which then resembled the coils of a gigantic serpent... Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. In 1871 their great communal nesting sites had covered 850 square miles of Wisconsin’s sandy oak barrens—136 million breeding adults, naturalist A.W. The colors of the female were duller and paler. Large commission houses employed trappers (known as "pigeoners") to follow the flocks of pigeons year-round. Robert W. Shufeldt found little to differentiate the bird's osteology from that of other pigeons when examining a male skeleton in 1914, but Julian P. Hume noted several distinct features in a more detailed 2015 description. ev. By 1897, Whitman had bought all of Whittaker's birds, and upon reaching a maximum of 19 individuals, he gave seven back to Whittaker in 1898. Authorities differ as to how many times the passenger pigeon nested in a season. Around this time, a series of photographs were taken of these birds; 24 of the photos survive. Martha was on display for many years, but after a period in the museum vaults, she was put back on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in 2015. [49] Dung could accumulate under a roosting site to a depth of over 0.3 m (1.0 ft). [34][35] It has been suggested that the passenger pigeon should be revived when available technology allows it (a concept which has been termed "de-extinction"), using genetic material from such specimens. [30][128][129] Salt was also frequently used as bait, and many trappers set up near salt springs. The Passenger Pigeon also known as Ectopistes migratorius is an extinct bird which was endemic to North America. The Passenger Pigeon and the Future of Forest Conservation Our research revealed the Passenger Pigeon isn’t simply a model species; it quite possibly is the most important species for the future of conserving the woodland biodiversity of the eastern United States. Observers reported the sky was darkened by huge flocks that passed overhead. [14], The passenger pigeon differed from the species in the genus Zenaida in being larger, lacking a facial stripe, being sexually dimorphic, and having iridescent neck feathers and a smaller clutch. This composite description cited accounts of these birds in two pre-Linnean books. [151] In 1902, Whitman gave a female passenger pigeon to the zoo; this was possibly the individual later known as Martha, which would become the last living member of the species. The blood was supposed to be good for eye disorders, the powdered stomach lining was used to treat dysentery, and the dung was used to treat a variety of ailments, including headaches, stomach pains, and lethargy. Only a few birds still survived in captivity at this time. In November 1859, Henry David Thoreau, writing in Concord, Massachusetts, noted that "quite a little flock of [passenger] pigeons bred here last summer,"[53] while only seven years later, in 1866, one flock in southern Ontario was described as being 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide and 500 km (310 mi) long, took 14 hours to pass, and held in excess of 3.5 billion birds. [68], With the large numbers in passenger pigeon flocks, the excrement they produced was enough to destroy surface-level vegetation at long-term roosting sites, while adding high quantities of nutrients to the ecosystem. The authors found evidence of a faster rate of adaptive evolution and faster removal of harmful mutations in passenger pigeons compared to band-tailed pigeons, which are some of passenger pigeons' closest living relatives. This was not discovered until 2014, when writer Joel Greenberg found out the date of the bird's shooting while doing research for his book A Feathered River Across the Sky. [63][64], The 2017 passenger-pigeon genetic study also found that, in spite of its large population size, the genetic diversity was very low in the species. [76], Mast occurs in large quantities in different places at different times, and rarely in consecutive years, which is one of the reasons why the large flocks were constantly on the move. The greater and median wing-covert feathers were pale gray, with a small number of irregular black spots near the end. During the summer, berries and softer fruits, such as blueberries, grapes, cherries, mulberries, pokeberries, and bunchberry, became the main objects of its consumption. During this brooding period both parents took care of the nestling, with the male attending in the middle of the day and the female at other times. [56][57] Some early accounts also suggest that the appearance of flocks in great numbers was an irregular occurrence. [22], The juvenile passenger pigeon was similar in plumage to the adult female, but lacked the spotting on the wings, and was a darker brownish-gray on the head, neck, and breast. [32] The tail was shorter than that of the male, and the legs and feet were a paler red. After feeding, the pigeons perched on branches and digested the food stored in their crop overnight. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has used the passenger pigeon as an example in cases where a species was declared "at risk" for extinction even though population numbers are high.[139]. There are claims of a few further individuals having been kept in various places, but these accounts are not considered reliable today. Ohio, on 24 March 1900. It is unknown how they located this fluctuating food source, but their eyesight and flight powers helped them survey large areas for places that could provide food enough for a temporary stay. The flock arrived at a nesting ground around March in southern latitudes, and some time later in more northern areas. [8] In 1918 Harry C. Oberholser suggested that C. canadensis should take precedence over C. migratoria (as E. canadensis), as it appeared on an earlier page in Linnaeus' book. By this time, large nestings only took place in the north, around the Great Lakes. The Passenger Pigeon (, "A Pleistocene Record of the Passenger Pigeon in California", "A Second Pleistocene Passenger Pigeon from California", "Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "Humans not solely to blame for passenger pigeon extinction", American Association for the Advancement of Science, "Natural selection shaped the rise and fall of passenger pigeon genomic diversity", "Four billion passenger pigeons vanished. A flying flock could reach as high as 400 meters from the ground. The habitat of the passenger pigeon was mixed hardwood forests. A single, white, elongated egg was laid per nesting. The male then went in search of more nesting material while the female constructed the nest beneath herself. [80] A whole colony was known to re-nest after a snowstorm forced them to abandon their original colony. [40] One of the primary causes of natural mortality was the weather, and every spring many individuals froze to death after migrating north too early. Cincinnati Zoological Garden. At once, like a torrent, and with a noise like thunder, they rushed into a compact mass, pressing upon each other towards the center. Competitions could also consist of people standing regularly spaced while trying to shoot down as many birds as possible in a passing flock. See a 360 Degree View of Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon. [62] The study also found that the size of the passenger pigeon population over that time period had been larger than the 2014 genetic study had found. It is believed that the pigeons used social cues to identify abundant sources of food, and a flock of pigeons that saw others feeding on the ground often joined them. A similar scenario may also explain the rapid extinction of the Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) during the same period. The most famous and often reproduced depiction of the passenger pigeon is Audubon's illustration (handcolored aquatint) in his book The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838. In contrast, very small populations of nearly extinct birds, such as the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) and the takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri), have been enough to keep those species extant to the present. The head and neck were small; the tail long and wedge-shaped, and the wings, long and pointed, were powered by large breast muscles that gave the-capability for prolonged flight. By 1902, Whitman owned sixteen birds. [22], The adult female passenger pigeon was slightly smaller than the male at 380 to 400 mm (15.0 to 15.7 in) in length. [34] These large fluctuations in population may have been the result of a disrupted ecosystem and have consisted of outbreak populations much larger than those common in pre-European times. What may be the earliest account of Europeans hunting passenger pigeons dates to January 1565, when the French explorer René Laudonnière wrote of killing close to 10,000 of them around Fort Caroline in a matter of weeks: There came to us a manna of wood pigeons in such great numbers, that over a span of about seven weeks, each day we killed more than two hundred with arquebuses in the woods around our fort.