Overhunting on their nesting grounds certainly contributed to their demise but it was the fault of the timber industry as much as anything. They nested in flocked of millions, it takes a pretty big piece of timber to hold that many birds. They also fed almost solely on nuts (acorn and beech), again it takes an awful lot of trees to feed them. You can trace their decline to the cutting of the large hardwood forests of the midwestern US. When the big virgin timber tracts were gone so were the pigeons.


DLH

Great looking bird. What a shame they are gone. Makes me wonder how many other unknown species were lost due to the expansion of civilization, going extinct before they were even "discovered" to exist.

Destry thanks again for letting me know about your friends book. I downloaded it from Amazon to my kindle this morning and read the preface. I can tell it's going to an amazing story.

Contrary to much thinking, "extinction" is not bad. It is the natural course of nature. Most species that have existed on Earth are now extinct. The planet seems to be doing fine.

And if you're worried about bird extinction, witness the Canada goose. Once almost extinct. Now soiling lawns and golf courses everywhere. The best part: they taste like liver.

If you're worried about extinction, the air, the water, etc., watch this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tncnWp67wQI

Kensal,

Actually it was only ever the Giant Canada Goose subspecies that was close to extinction. They actually thought they were gone until feral non-migratory flocks were discovered that were descendants of live decoys and ornamental birds.

I don't think anybody has ever really looked into it, but I believe all the feral Canada Geese in the UK are giant strain as well. We shot some over there on a couple of occasions and they were the biggest ones I'd ever picked up in my whole life.

The smallest race (Aleutian) was also in bad shape for a long time due to fox predation on their nesting islands. They finally got all the foxes cleared off and now they're doing fine. You can actually hunt them again, a great success story for a fun game bird.



DLH

Cloning the passenger pigeon
 

William Mershon was a dedicated conservationist. His fish camp, which belongs to a friend of mine, is about 7 miles up stream from my cabin on the North Branch of the Au Sable. After northern Michigan was raped by the logging companies, Mershon planted tens of thousands of trees to try to repair the damage done before him

I think I feel an article coming on. I wonder if he's mentioned in the Parker records as a purchaser?

DLH