Bird of the Month: Passenger Pigeon
Written by Andy McCormick
Andy McCormick, Volunteer and Former Board President of Eastside Audubon
At the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, MA the Passenger Pigeon was probably the most abundant bird in North America (Kaufman). Enormous nomadic flocks of these pigeons numbering in the millions roamed around the eastern two-thirds of the continent eating beechnuts, acorns, grains, and berries. Alexander Wilson described an incredibly large flock this way as he was on his way to Frankfort, KY,
“…From right to left as far as the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast procession extended, seemingly equally crowded….It was then half past one. I sat for more than an hour, but instead of diminution of this procession, it seemed rather to increase both in numbers and rapidity….About four o’clock in the afternoon I crossed the Kentucky River, at the town of Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my head seemed as numerous and extensive as ever. Long after this I observed them…all moving in the same south-east direction, till after six in the evening” (Bent).
Wilson calculated that this flock contained an incredible 2,230,272,000 individuals. This was not the only huge flock he saw, nor the only person to witness such a sight. Audubon described a roost along the Green River in Kentucky as being 40 miles long and three miles wide with dung on the ground several inches thick. As he traveled farther, he wrote, “The air was literally filled with pigeons; the light of noonday was obscured as by an eclipse…and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose” (Bent).
Passenger Pigeon
Scientific Name: Ectopistes migratorius
Length: 16”
Wingspan: 16.5”
COLONIAL NESTER
The Passenger Pigeon was a colonial nester of the forests of eastern North America. It built a simple, bare structure of sticks balanced on a tree limb from 10 to 50 feet above the ground. One or two eggs were deposited and incubated for about two weeks. In another two weeks the young fledged. Female Passenger Pigeons could have multiple broods each year (Bent).
The roosts included hundreds of trees with hundreds of nests in each tree being common. “The pigeons arrived by the millions…pressed together like the bees in a swarm…. Over-loaded treetops of the roosting place broke, and, falling to earth, pulled down at the same time the pigeons and the branches which found themselves below them” (Revoil in Bent).
FAST FLYER
“Their flight was direct and made with great velocity” (Bent). They had long wings and a long-tapered tail similar in shape as a Mourning Dove and female Passenger Pigeons were often confused with Mourning Doves. The male was considerably larger than the female It was blue-gray above with bright pink on the chest. Dark spots on the coverts matched the dark primary and secondary wing feathers. The iris of the male was scarlet, and that of the female orange. The tail was white on the outer feathers (Alderfer).
HUMAN INTERVENTION
Native Americans enjoyed eating Passenger Pigeons. The new Americans developed a taste for them as well. They were sold for their meat and their fat. Large nets were set with a “stool pigeon” in the area to attract the flock. A sprung net could capture 40 or 50 dozen birds. The same net could be used 10 times a day for days on end. Breeding flocks were captured in this way and squabs were sold as well as adult birds (Blockstein). Entire breeding colonies were destroyed, and the flocks were unable to replace the lost birds. Once the eastern forests, especially the beech woods were cut down, the Passenger Pigeon’s habitat was lost, and their protective flocks fragmented. Their population crashed. Remnant flocks survived in Michigan for some years and personal collections were soon all that was left.
2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the last Passenger Pigeon in captivity in 1914. The story of the Passenger Pigeon reminds us that the best time to protect a species is while it is still numerous (Kaufman). The Passenger Pigeon is extinct.
Photo credit John James Audubon.
References available upon request from amccormick@eastsideaudubon.org.