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Four extinct North American birds, in ascending order of ATL save-ability. The first two are in the pre-1900 forum.

3) The Passenger Pigeon. Blue-gray bird, about half again as big as the common city pigeon. Probably the most famous extinct American bird.

Gathered in enormous flocks of billions (no typo), so vast that they literally blotted out the sun -- the avian equivalent of the buffalo. Found all over NE North America, from north of the Gulf States to southern Canada, and west to the edge of the Great Plains.

Wiped out by a combination of habitat destruction (it liked first-growth oak and beech forests) and truly fantastic overhunting. Killed by the millions, it was the only wild bird to (briefly) become the object of slaughter and packing on an industrial scale. From the Civil War to about 1890, crates of the pigeons were shipped out of Chicago to destinations worldwide. In 1870s Chicago, you could buy pigeon futures. And exports, of birds that weighed less than a pound apiece, were measured in hundreds of tons.

Last wild one shot in 1903. Last individual died in captivity 1916.

Why it went extinct: Tasty, and very very easy to kill. Also, bred only communally. We're not sure, but it appears that they were so adapted to life in a huge flock that they couldn't mate and raise young in pairs or small groups. Gross and stupid overhunting (some hunts killed _millions_ of birds at a time. Habitat destruction hurt too, though it didn't do the job alone.

How to save it: Tricky but IMO possible.

-- A determined captive breeding program, with a large enough flock. One problem with this: captive breeding, as a concept, didn't really get under way until the 1950s.

-- Several large parks, not too far apart, where hunting is prohibited.

Knock-on effects: potentially huge. The Passenger was the single most abundant vertebrate on the North American continent. It probably affected hardwood forests just as much as buffalo did the prairie, or elephants the African savannah. You dont' run 10 billion birds through an ecosystem without having some interesting side effects. In OTL, we'll probably never have a truly original first-growth temperate forest on this continent again.

Several bird species seem to be attempting to fill the Passenger's empty niche -- starlings, red-winged blackbirds, grackles. These guys would probably be a lot less common.

Also, passenger pigeons were by all accounts delicious, and much easier to prepare and cook than their smaller cousins. So if there's a sustainable population that would support regular hunting, then pigeon dishes might be a minor part of the standard American diet (as opposed to a tiny niche item -- squab -- as iOTL).


Doug M.
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