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Print out your own passenger pigeon image page ( PDF, 102 Kb)įind out about the extinct and endangered animals in the Museum. The image of Martha (top row, centre) © 1993 Smithsonian InstitutionĪll you need to know about passenger pigeons The passenger pigeon Ectopistes migratorius became extinct in 1914, largely as the result of intensive hunting by man. Image bank - click on the pictures for more information. This made the population fragile, and when humans hunted them further, shooting and trapping them, they managed to exterminate the entire species. So, when their numbers began to decline because of hunting, they became unable to breed properly. You see, the passenger pigeon needed to nest and raise their chicks around lots of other pigeons. How could this happen? Well, they were hunted - but it wasn't just hunting that caused their extinction. The last bird, called 'Martha', died in a zoo in 1914.
![passenger pigeon passenger pigeon](https://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/shared/npr/styles/x_large/nprshared/201805/325912095.jpg)
But, by 1912, rewards were being given to people who could find any evidence of these birds living in the wild. In the 17th and 18th centuries passenger pigeons were everywhere - they were so common that when they began to migrate they blackened the skies - blocking out the sun for hours or even whole days! They were probably the most common bird on the whole planet until about 300 years ago. Habitat: Passenger pigeons were once found in huge numbers across North America.ĭescription: Looks rather like the common pigeons you see in the street every day.