![]() A large flock wouldn’t have much choice but to eat anything that was available. Everything you read says they ate acorns, chestnuts, and other seeds and grains. We didn’t understand what they needed to eat. I think it mostly had to do with their diet. I will now explain why I think captive breeding failed. I think mining and wildlife conservation could work together since the birds seem to prefer their land already I think mines and quarries could still operate without affecting the birds breeding. They would imediately be on the endangered species list and therefore their breeding grounds would be protected by Federal Law. Workers and owners would not report them even if they did know what they were looking at. Mines are quarries are not open to the public for hunting or hiking or tresspassing in anyway so anyone that would see them would most likely be tresspassing and the incident would go unreported. I imagine stone quarries would also make a suitable breeding habitat. They would probably be using similair sites further south in the Appalachians. In this part of PA there are thousands of these abandoned mining pits. First time I saw them they were in an oak tree on the edge of an abandoned coal strip mining pit. They prefer to lay their eggs in large conifer trees growing along a ledge or cliff. Hopefully someone with access to this type of habitat will read this and get lucky enough to see them. I would love 15 minutes of fame but I will share what I know about their preferred breeding habitat to give everyone a chance to find them. Many birds force their young to learn Passenger Pigeons had a different approach instead of pushing from the nest they broke the branch or limb the young were standing on. This was done on purpose to pressure the fledgelings to fly. From my own observations I understand why they did this. If you have studied what little information there is about Passenger Pigeons many reports say that the trees would be so full of Pigeons large limbs would break off under the combined weight of the birds. It is actually a group flock effort I find very interresting. ![]() By mid July the fledging pigeons are encouraged heavily by their parents to fly. Seems very popular out west but not around here.Īnother reason dove hunting season in PA is sometime in September. I honestly do not know anyone that actively hunts dove here in Pennsylvania. First off dove hunting isn’t that popular around here. There are many different reasons for this. Ok on to “Why hasn’t a hunter accidently shot one?”. For example preferred habitat, preferred foods, preferred home range, ect. We never learned the important things that made it possible to find smaller flocks. ![]() We never developed the skills to hunt small flocks because we never needed to due to the overpopulated million bird flocks. Flocks were so large all you had to do was follow and kill indisciminately. I read every written account of hunting Passenger Pigeons and to me it doesn’t sound like hunting to me. I think the real problem was Passenger Pigeons needed to breed in a large colony for us to be able to find them. Lets start with the theory “One of the traits of the Passenger pigeon was it needed a large colony to breed and raise its young.” I will try and address all your concerns as to why this shouldn’t be possible. I appreciate everyones support and even your scepticism. The last Passenger Pigeon, Martha, died completely alone at the Cincinnati Zoo at about 1:00 pm on September 1, 1914. The telegraph would help to spread where the locations of flocks could be ascertained, and the birds were hunted relentlessly, then modern shipping saw to their shipment for marketsĪ remarkable bird, all estimates say that the passenger pigeon could reach speeds of 70 miles per hour and sometimes faster. Our very advances in technology helped to speed the death and extinction of this beautiful bird Tens of thousands of individuals were harvested daily by hunters, who hunted into their nesting colonies and shipped them to markets to be processed. The short, black bill, slender in its makeup was well suited to the diets the birds ate, which were acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, various fruits, grains and insects. Male coloration was deeper and brighter than the female. It was slate blue on its head and bottom, a gray back and a lovely wine red breast. The Passenger Pigeon was similar to but larger than the Mourning Dove. This may be the only species in the entire world for which the exact time of extinction is known down to the moment it happened.
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