Passenger Pigeons.....

[MarketHunter]

The shooting and trapping of passenger pigeons really had very little to do with their demise. They were the most numerous bird in North America and possibly the world. A study was done several years ago, wish I'd have kept a copy. The results were that there hadn't been enough lead shot manufactured in the US up to that time to have killed all the birds. The reason they became extinct was because they couldn't adapt to the cutting of the huge tracks of hardwood timber in the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the country. They nested and fed in flocks of millions, once the stands of trees that could support that activity were gone so were the wild pigeons. I'm not saying shooting and trapping didn't play a part, but even if that hadn't have been done there still wouldn't be any passenger pigeons today.


Destry

[Duckman]

Originally Posted by Destry L. Hoffard

The shooting and trapping of passenger pigeons really had very little to do with their demise. They were the most numerous bird in North America and possibly the world. A study was done several years ago, wish I'd have kept a copy. The results were that there hadn't been enough lead shot manufactured in the US up to that time to have killed all the birds. The reason they became extinct was because they couldn't adapt to the cutting of the huge tracks of hardwood timber in the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the country. They nested and fed in flocks of millions, once the stands of trees that could support that activity were gone so were the wild pigeons. I'm not saying shooting and trapping didn't play a part, but even if that hadn't have been done there still wouldn't be any passenger pigeons today.


Destry

There are also also some thoughts that avian disease may have played a role in pigeon decline. Not unlike the decline of band tail pigeons, a bird I grew up hunting. Also, I read today that shooting off the buffalo would have been nearly impossible and there is evidence that disease played a part in their demise as well. I have a friend who raises bison commercially and he is deathly afraid of having them around sheep or goats as those animals carry Malignant Catarrhal Fever, which is fatal to bison while sheep and goats are uneffected. Perhaps wild sheep carry it as well? In any case, p. pigeons and buffalo would struggle in todays world. Sad but true. Both species lived in very close quarters since there were only about two main flocks of pigeons and two main herds of bison making them highly susceptible to contagions.
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