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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">The timing of the events has to be
taken into consideration. Audubon wrote that in 1813. A population
that vast could take a fair amount of hunting pressure. However,
the huge slaughters by market hunters continued into the 1850s and
1860s, facilitated by rail access to the markets. <br>
<br>
From David Blockstein's species account in the Birds of North
America:<br>
<br>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<p id="13.1.1.2.4" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding: 0px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana,
sans-serif; font-size: 14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: 18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“As
settlement advanced, as railroads were built, spanning the
continent, as telegraph lines followed them, as markets
developed for the birds, an army of people, hunters, settlers,
netters and Indians, found in the pigeons a considerable part of
their means of subsistence, and the birds were constantly
pursued and killed whenever they appeared,<em class="sciname">at
all seasons of the year</em><span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>” (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib048"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Forbush 1927</a>: 67).</p>
<p id="13.1.1.2.5" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding: 0px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana,
sans-serif; font-size: 14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: 18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);">In 1842, 3,000 live pigeons were transported by rail from
Michigan to Boston. In 1851, an estimated 1,800,000 pigeons were
sent to New York City from a nesting in n. New York (<a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib114"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Schorger 1955</a>: 145). By the time the Civil War
ended, most of the U.S. east of the Mississippi was covered by
railroad. Only a handful of nesting colonies was too far from
rail or ship for market exploitation. Even a nesting in 1881 in
Oklahoma, 176 km from the railroad, was pillaged by commercial
trappers (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib003"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Anon. 1881</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib076"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Judy 1881</a>).</p>
<p id="13.1.1.2.6" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding: 0px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana,
sans-serif; font-size: 14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: 18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);">Often hundreds of thousands of adults and squabs were
shipped from a single nesting. Large numbers of birds were
destroyed by locals or otherwise killed but not transported. A
million birds could be lost at a single nesting. Yet even these
large numbers of birds killed were probably not sufficient to
cause the precipitous decline in the population. Overhunting did
not exterminate the Passenger Pigeon as is commonly believed.
Rather, the disturbance of the nesting colonies led the birds to
abandon the nestings prematurely (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib020"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Blockstein and Tordoff 1985</a>). This, coupled with
slaughter of nestlings as well as adults, largely eliminated
replacement of the population.</p>
The simultaneous destruction of the forests of the East obviously
played a big role. <br>
<br>
Again, from Blockstein:<br>
<br>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<p id="13.1.1.2.7" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding: 0px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana,
sans-serif; font-size: 14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: 18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);">Deforestation was also a major factor in the decline
because it reduced the area available to the pigeons and thus
reduced the opportunities for nesting and roosting colonies.
Being nomadic, Passenger Pigeons needed enormous areas to find
some conditions suitable for nesting (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib007"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Askins 2000</a>). Because nesting colonies formed only
where there was sufficient mast, the reduction in the forest
meant that in some years there was no nesting at all. Forbush (<a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib048"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">1927</a>: 66) agreed that the decrease “was due in part
to the destruction of the forests, particularly the beech woods.
. . .” Another nineteenth-century technology, the portable saw
mill introduced in 1870s, sped the destruction of what had once
been a completely forested landscape. By 1880, about 80% of the
original forest of New England had been cleared (<a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib075"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Irland 1982</a>). Deforestation in the major nesting
area of north-central Pennsylvania began in 1872, but did not
reach full speed until 1892 (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib050"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">French 1919</a>: 110). Michigan was still well wooded
in 1883 (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib104"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Rand McNally and Co. 1883</a>), although it was being
logged rapidly, particularly for its pines, which would have had
less impact on the Passenger Pigeon than logging of deciduous
trees.</p>
<p id="13.1.1.2.8" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding: 0px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana,
sans-serif; font-size: 14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: 18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);">Deforestation, which occurred from east to west, reduced
the available habitat. In the early eighteenth century, Wilson (<a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib133"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">1812</a>: 109) noted that although the species was
sometimes very numerous in the Atlantic states, it never
appeared in “such unparalleled multitudes” of “congregated
millions” as in the “western forests” of Ohio, Kentucky, and
Indiana. The last recorded mass nesting in Massachusetts was in
1850s (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib048"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Forbush 1927</a>), in New York in the 1870s. From 1870
on, almost all of the nesting colonies recorded were in the
forested Alleghenies of n. Pennsylvania and the Great Lake
states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and, to a lesser extent,
Minnesota (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib090"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Mershon 1907</a>). These were the areas where intact
original forest remained (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib132"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Williams 1989</a>). In 1892, Bendire (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib013"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">1892</a>: 132–133) wrote, “breeding range . . .
principally in thinly settled and wooded region along our
northern border . . . as well as . . . Canada, and north at
least to Hudson Bay. Isolated and scattering pairs probably
still breed in New England States, northern New York,
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and a few other
localities further south, but the enormous breeding colonies . .
. are . . . things of the past, probably never to be seen again.
In fact, the extermination . . . has progressed so rapidly
during the last twenty years that it now looks as if their total
extermination might be accomplished in the present century.”</p>
<p id="13.1.1.2.9" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding: 0px;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana,
sans-serif; font-size: 14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: 18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);">Schorger (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib114"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">1955</a>) and Blockstein and Tordoff (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib020"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">1985</a>) argued that the extent of mast-bearing forest
in the 1870s and 1880s was sufficient to support the population.
However it apparently was not enough to allow nesting colonies
every year. After another 3 decades, there was essentially no
sufficient forest left. But the pigeons were gone before the
last deciduous forests. “The destruction of the forest was not
yet complete; for, although great tracts of land were cleared,
there remained and still remain vast regions more or less
covered by coppice growth sufficient to furnish hosts of pigeons
with food, and the cultivation of land and the raising of grain
provided new sources of food supply. Therefore, while the
reduction of the forest area in the east was a factor in the
diminution of the pigeons, we cannot attribute their
extermination to the destruction of the forest” (<a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib048"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187, 210,
224);">Forbush 1927</a>: 66).</p>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<meta charset="utf-8">
<div id="13.1" class="section" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size:
14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto; text-align: left;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<div id="13.1.1" class="subsection">
<div id="13.1.1.3" class="subject">
<p id="13.1.1.3.2" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding:
0px;">Once the population reached a level of thousands,
rather than billions, the species was unable to recover.
Several factors may have been involved. Persecution
continued, nearly to the end. In spring 1883, all of the
young were reportedly taken. One man was said to have
taken 60,000 and several others 10,000 young each (E. S.
Bond in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib004"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Anon. 1883</a>). Over 5,000 birds were
reportedly killed at a roost in Missouri the following
winter (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib005"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Anon. 1884</a>). Over 1,000 carcasses were
shipped to Boston in 1891 (Editor 1891 in<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib114"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Schorger 1955</a>: 218). Market-hunting
continued until at least 1893, and shooting was reported
to the end.</p>
<p id="13.1.1.3.3" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding:
0px;">Blockstein and Tordoff (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib020"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">1985</a>) hypothesized that the species
slowly faded away throughout its last decade. By 1892,
“the majority [were] no longer breeding in colonies, but
scattering around the country and breeding in isolated
pairs” (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib013"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Bendire 1892</a>: 133). Since the species
lacked the numbers for predator satiation through mass
nesting that had been responsible for its success and had
no antipredator adaptations for nesting, such as nest
concealment, and since it laid only a single egg, nest
success must have been insufficient to maintain the
population.</p>
<p id="13.1.1.3.4" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding:
0px;">In contrast, Bucher (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib026"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">1992</a>: 25) argued that the decline in
numbers circumvented the social facilitation necessary for
the flocks to find enough mast for a successful nesting.
In his view, once a population went below a minimum viable
size, “the remaining individuals were unable to find food
patches at [an] adequate rate.” He felt it “likely that a
whole flock may have ‘missed’ good spots when moving north
and starved or at least failed to produce enough offspring
to compensate for adult mortality.” However, a smaller
flock would need less food to sustain itself, and it seems
likely that a pair could have found enough food (mast and
crops) to eat and probably even to breed.</p>
<p id="13.1.1.3.5" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; padding:
0px;">Both arguments are based on the inability of a small
population to maintain itself after numbers were
insufficient to achieve the evolved strategy essential to
the success of the species—predator satiation (<a
class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib020"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Blockstein and Tordoff 1985</a>) or social
facilitation of foraging (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib026"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Bucher 1992</a>). The unknowable true cause
may have had elements of each. However, it is known that
the pigeons continued to nest in colonies, even as late as
1885–1887 (<a class="biblio"
href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/611/articles/species/611/biblio/bib114"
style="color: rgb(3, 104, 154); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: normal; border-style: none none solid;
border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(187,
210, 224);">Schorger 1955</a>: 216). After that, there
was at least some success in nesting in very small groups
or even lone pairs (as always had been the case with a
minuscule proportion of the population). The last birds
collected in 1899 in Wisconsin and in 1900 in Ohio were
both immatures.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="13.2" class="section" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size:
14.285714149475098px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
18.85714340209961px; orphans: auto; text-align: left;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br
class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET">"
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET"</a>
</pre>
On 11/26/13, 6:11 PM, Rowe, Timothy B wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:880a6f533ab747dc80c2d250f39ab0b8@BLUPR06MB180.namprd06.prod.outlook.com"
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<div name="divtagdefaultwrapper" id="divtagdefaultwrapper"
style="font-family: Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;
font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; margin: 0">
I'm quite glad to see that you have brought this portentous
anniversary brought into the spotlight.
<br>
<br>
But what exactly do you mean by "human persecution"?<br>
<br>
Audubon himself reported that the Passenger pigeon was breeding
at a pace that mitigated human hunting pressures. However, he
warned that cutting the old growth forests was something that
could pressure them into extinction. There is ample literature
to show that, state-by-state, as the portable saw mills took
down the old forests, loss of adequate food and breeding
environment was the proximate and immediate cause of extinction,
not over-hunting.
<br>
<br>
But take comfort in the fact that even great luminaries like
Jared Diamond and E. O. Wilson fell into the same trap -
implying that human overkill was the source.
<br>
<br>
Here is why it is important to get this diagnosis correct: a
hunting ban would not have saved the Passenger pigeon, but a
logging ban just might have.
<br>
<br>
The causes of extinction are subtle - all the more reason to use
this anniversary to promote research on this most critical
topic.<br>
<br>
Tim<br>
<br>
Timothy Rowe<br>
Director, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory<br>
The University of Texas at Austin<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<div style="color:rgb(40,40,40)">
<hr tabindex="-1" style="display:inline-block; width:98%">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt"
color="#000000" face="Calibri, sans-serif"><b>From:</b>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu"><nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu></a> on behalf of
Steve Sullivan <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ssullivan@naturemuseum.org"><ssullivan@naturemuseum.org></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, November 25, 2013 11:44 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] 2014 marks centenary of
extinction of the Passenger Pigeon</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%">This
month many of our thoughts are turning towards
turkeys but nearly a century ago we were thinking
about another bird—the Passenger Pigeon. 2014 is
the centenary of the extinction of the Passenger
Pigeon, a species that once numbered in the
billions; flocks would darken the sky as they
passed; 1 in 4 birds on the continent were Passenger
Pigeons. 50 years of human persecution directly
resulted in their extinction. This astonishing loss
stimulated the passage of several important wildlife
protection laws including the migratory bird treaty
act and the Lacy act.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%">Project
Passenger Pigeon is a movement to commemorate this
anniversary and use it not only as an opportunity to
familiarize people with this remarkable species, but
also to raise awareness of current issues related to
human-caused extinction, explore connections between
humans and the natural world, and inspire people to
become more involved in building a sustainable
relationship with other species.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%">We hope
that you and your institution will join over 170
institutions throughout the world to commemorate
this anniversary and use it to promote the
conservation issues that are most relevant to your
region. Resources of all kinds—a book, exhibit
panels, classroom lessons, a speaker’s bureau, and
more are available at
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://passengerpigeon.org/">http://passengerpigeon.org/</a>
. Attached is a letter that outlines these in more
detail or just visit the website.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%">Yours,
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%">Steve</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt">Steven M. Sullivan |
Senior Curator of Urban Ecology</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt">The Chicago Academy of
Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum</span></font><font
size="1"><span style="font-size:8.0pt"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="1"><span
style="font-size:3.0pt"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt">Museum|2430 North Cannon
Drive|Chicago Illinois 60614|<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.naturemuseum.org/">naturemuseum.org</a></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt">Collections|4001 North
Ravenswood Ave.|Chicago Illinois 60613|<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://projectsquirrel.org/">projectsquirrel.org</a></span></font><font
size="1"><span style="font-size:3.0pt"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt">P 708-937-6253 | F
773-755-5199 |
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="ssullivan@naturemuseum.org">ssullivan@naturemuseum.org</a></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<font face="Calibri" size="1"><span
style="font-size:3.0pt"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<i><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; font-style:italic">A
century of memories and lessons from the Passenger
Pigeon at
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://passengerpigeon.org/">passengerpigeon.org</a></span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:normal">
<i><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; font-style:italic"> </span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%"> </span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l">http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l</a>
</pre>
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