Passenger Pigeon

Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius

The Passenger Pigeon was once famous for the sheer number of pigeons in a single flock, and is now famous for a human caused extinction. These birds once blotted out the skies of the eastern portion of the United States. John James Audubon once estimating a single flock containing over 300 million birds. Unfortunately, they were highly marketable and there were no laws to protect them in the 1800s.

Stool pigeon is a term derived from these birds as hunters would mount a live passenger pigeon on a stool. This pigeon would then cry to its brethren for help allowing for easy prey. A famous hunt in Petoskey, Michigan in 1878 recorded at least 50,000 kills each day for nearly five months. By the time regulations were finally in place, too many had been killed and too much habitat removed for passenger pigeons to ever recover. While there were still thousands in the wild, they were no longer in a situation where they could breed, and passenger pigeons slowly died off. The species was officially declared extinct in 1914 when Martha, that last living passenger pigeon known who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo, died.

”It is not always necessary to kill the last pair of a species to force it to extinction.” - Paul R. Ehrlich

In the late 1800s, the Lacey Act was established in part due to the nearing extinction of passenger pigeons at the time. The law prohibits illegally obtained game to be shipped across state boundaries. In 1918, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed to protect all native birds to the highest degree. By federal law, one must have a permit to possess any native bird or bird parts including, but not limited to, feathers, nests, mounts, and eggs. While the lessons of the passenger pigeon extinction have not been learned everywhere around the world, there has been progress in species protection.

For another, slightly different write-up I've done on Passenger Pigeons, you can see my Google+ post. This beautiful, preserved mount is currently on display at the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary.