Species/Passenger pigeon
Passenger pigeon
Ectopistes migratorius
EXExtinct
- Range
- Formerly eastern North America
- Population
- Zero. Last captive bird, Martha, died at Cincinnati Zoo in 1914
- Trend
- extinct
- Last assessed
- 1988
Once the most abundant bird in North America — flocks that darkened the sky. Billions to zero in a century. The scorecard’s wildlife F is not a metaphor. This is the exhibit.
Abundance is not insurance. A species can be everywhere and then, quite suddenly, nowhere.
Threats
- Industrial hunting
- Telegraph-coordinated slaughter
- Forest clearing
What you can do
Treat ‘common’ as a status that can move
Watch species before they are rare. That is the entire point of this list.