In 1896, the last great Passenger Pigeon flock came to roost on the banks of the Green River outside Bowling Green, Ohio. Hunters descended on the roost and killed nearly the entire flock. Two hundred thousand dead birds were barreled and loaded into boxcars. Shortly after leaving the depot, the train derailed. Stranded in the heat, the birds were left to rot.
At the time of European arrival, Passenger Pigeons accounted for up to forty per cent of the land birds of North America. They flew in vast flocks, numbering in the millions, sometimes eclipsing the sun from noon until nightfall. Flying sixty miles an hour, they migrated across their geographic range, which stretched from the northeastern and mid-western states and into Canada to the southern states.
In the 19th century as America’s urban population grew and the demand for wild meat increased, thousands of men became full-time pigeon hunters. With nesting sites holding unimaginable numbers, hunters slaughtered the birds with great efficiency. It was inconceivable that in less than fifty years, the Passenger Pigeon would be nearly extinct.
On March 24th, 1900, a boy in Pike County, Ohio shot the last recorded wild Passenger Pigeon. Fourteen years later, under the watchful eyes of her keepers, the last captive Passenger Pigeon, Martha, died in her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo.
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