Martha, the Very Last Passenger Pigeon - The Atlantic.
Martha “Martha,” the last known passenger pigeon. The passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius, was once the most common bird in the United States, numbering in the billions.Passenger pigeons lived in enormous colonies, with sometimes up to 100 nests in a single tree.Migrating flocks stretched a mile wide, turning the skies black.
The last passenger pigeon alive, named Martha, died on September 1, 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo. Humans have always had a huge impact on their surroundings and when the Europeans arrived in North America in the 1630s, the population of the passenger pigeon started decreasing rapidly.
Martha, thought to be the last passenger pigeon, died on September 1, 1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo. The eradication of this species is a notable example of anthropogenic extinction.
Martha: An Endling's Tale Martha - the last passenger pigeon. Martha - the last passenger pigeon. Photographs by John Aitchison.
Ectopistes migratorius, Print, The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word passager, meaning 'passing by Ectopistes migratorius, Print, The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America.
Posts about Passenger Pigeon written by Cheryl Merrill. An excerpt from my book, Larger than Life: Living in the Shadows of Elephants: As Doug and Sandi prepare for our morning walk, a nearby Cape mourning dove begins its chanting call: hoo-HOO-hoo, hoo-HOO-hoo. The dove is the same shape and color of the pigeons strutting the streets of my hometown, and belongs to the same family as pigeons.
The history of the passenger pigeon extinction has been detailed by historians; this essay explores the rhetoric after extinction as humans who had shared the landscape with passenger pigeons sought to signify their loss and make meaning of both pigeon body and the landscape from which it was now gone. 4.