One hundred years and one week ago....

[Clint]

100 year and one week ago was the passing of a species that once was estimated to comprise 25-40 percent of ALL the birds in North America. With flocks measured in hundreds of miles in length, and billions of birds. Some frontiersmen credit this species with surviving hard times. Of course it will be the passing of Martha, the last passenger pigeon that occurred 100 years ago. Martha was found dead in her aviary at the Cincinnati Zoo at 1 pm in the afternoon.

It is interesting to read historical accounts of pigeon flocks and their role in Frontier survival. It is also interesting to read all the hypotheses as to the cause of their extinction. Without a doubt habitat loss and harvest were key components of their extinction. Nesting in colonies possibly numbering in the millions, yet laying only 1 egg, it would appear they had a low reproductive rate. That appears to be offset by high adult survival – Martha was thought to be 29 when she died. One reason for their colonial nesting was thought to be the need to find a mate at the same stage of the reproductive cycle. Any aviculturist knows it is important to get both male and female in-synch for fertile eggs, and this has been suggested as the reason for the poor reproductive success of captive passenger pigeons. I drift away from what I consider to be an important, but under-appreciated factor: Technology. With the expansion of the telegraph, news of nesting colonies was broad-cast far and wide. With railroad expansion, hunters soon converged on a colony to decimate its ranks. With a ready market, knowledge of where large numbers of birds were, and the ability to get harvested birds to market , it seems to me were important components in their decline.

Could stricter laws have saved the passenger pigeon as some suggest? I don’t know. I would like to think it would have, but I have some doubts. Even today we see more failuires than success, but technology is going to try something new with plans for reintroductions by 2050. Here the start of the process...http://longnow.org/revive/passenger-pigeon-workshop/ will it work? I do not know.

Instead, hopefully I will get a chance to hunt doves soon (season opened saturday), and I will be adding a pair of these to my dove rig to give my respects to what may well have been the most numerous bird in the world during it's time.
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Clint

http://longnow.org/revive/passenger-pigeon-workshop/

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[Jeff Reardon]

I like the decoy. Nice tribute to a species that disappeared before we knew better.

 

[Tom Roberts]

I enjoyed that and appreciate what your saying. N.E. Oklahoma used to be one of the last strong holds of large numbers of Passenger Pigeons. I read somewhere that said that at one time they were the largest number of any species on the face of the earth. Very-Very-Sad.

 

[Carl]

Funny coincidence, I was thinking about this the other day.
I tend to think that even if market hunting was stopped, they would have disappeared from habitat destruction anyway. Deforestation of the old growth forest in almost the entire country east of the MS was in full swing and I don't think it could have been stopped.

 

[Clint]

Playing Devil's Advocate....with the Ivory-bill stuff, thereis a lot of evidence of extensive deforestation by Native Americans was bvery extensive prior to colonization...so I am not sure about forest destruction...there were extensive colonies in the Northeast into the 1880s....but a nesting colony attracted market hunters....particularly in the later 1880s. I do think colony dynamics were important.... not sure how a reintroduction effort can overcome that if they are genetically very similar.

Clint