The mourning dove is smaller and less brightly colored than the passenger pigeon. This has often led to mistaken identification and false reports of passenger pigeons long after they became extinct. The mourning dove, Zenaidura macroura, closest relative of the passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius resembles the passenger pigeon in shape and coloring. Her head and back were a brownish gray, the iridescent patches of the throat and back of the neck were less bright, and the breast was a pale cinnamon-rose color. The colors of the female were duller and paler. The irides were bright red the bill small, black and slender the feet and legs a clear lake red. The lower throat and breast were a soft rose, gradually shading to white on the lower abdomen. Patches of pinkish iridescence at the sides of the throat changed in color to a shining metallic bronze, green, and purple at the back of the neck. The head and upper parts of the male pigeon were a clear bluish gray with black streaks on the scapulars and wing coverts.

The average length of the male was about 16½ inches.

The head and neck were small the tail long and wedge-shaped, and the wings, long and pointed, were powered by large breast muscles that gave the-capability for prolonged flight. The physical appearance of the bird was commensurate with its flight characteristics of grace, speed, and maneuverability. Ectopistes means 'moving about or wandering,' and migratorius means 'migrating.' The scientific name carries the connotation of a bird that not only migrates in the spring and fall, but one that also moves about from season to season to select the most favorable environment for nesting and feeding. Its scientific name is Ectopistes migratorius. The passenger pigeons or wild pigeon belongs to the order Columbiformes. See a 360 Degree View of Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon. She died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, and was donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where her body was once mounted in a display case with this notation: The last known individual of the passenger pigeon species was 'Martha' (named after Martha Washington). The small captive flocks weakened and died. It was not possible to reestablish the species with a few captive birds. The passenger pigeon was a colonial and gregarious bird and needed large numbers for optimum breeding conditions. Never again would man witness the magnificent spring and fall migratory flights of this swift and graceful bird.Īttempts to save the species by breeding the surviving captive birds were not successful. From 1909 to 1912, the American Ornithologists' Union offered $1,500 to anyone finding a nest or nesting colony of passenger pigeons, but these efforts were futile. Concerted searches were made and rewards offered for the capture of wild passenger pigeons. Only a few birds still survived in captivity at this time. One of the last authenticated records of the capture of a wild bird was at Sargents, Pike County. Yet by the early 1900s no wild passenger pigeons could be found.

Samuel de Champlain in 1605 reported 'countless numbers,' Gabriel Sagard-Theodat wrote of 'infinite multitudes,' and Cotton Mather described a flight as being about a mile in width and taking several hours to pass overhead.

It is estimated that there were 3 billion to 5 billion passenger pigeons at the time Europeans discovered America.Įarly explorers and settlers frequently mentioned passenger pigeons in their writings. It is believed that this species once constituted 25 to 40 per cent of the total bird population of the United States. The extinction of the passenger pigeon is a poignant example of what happens when the interests of man clash with the interests of nature.

Passenger pigeon numbers