Our rape and pillage of the natural world is by no means a 21st century scourge, though it is clearly reaching critical levels. I was fascinated, in Cliffe Castle museum, to read about this bird and see two stuffed specimens. It's a Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorious, once the most numerous bird species in North America. Between 1840 and 1860, there were an estimated 3 to 5 thousand million of them, migrating in flocks that turned the sky black. In 1866, one flock in Ohio was described as 1 mile wide by 300 miles long and took 14 hours to pass overhead!
Deforestation and disturbance of their breeding grounds, together with widespread hunting, led to their extinction. The last verified sighting of a wild bird was in 1902. The last captive bird died in 1914. How very sad.
It's an odd-looking bird, but I mourn its passing.
ReplyDeleteThe hunting really spelled the end for them.
ReplyDeleteEctopistes migratorious can count himself lucky to be gone. Were he here today Jeff Bezos would buy up every single one and set them to work carrying millions of Amazon packages across America. Pigeons are cheaper than drones!
ReplyDeleteSad they are gone
ReplyDeleteI have also seen a stuffed one here.
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