Passenger Pigeon
Passenger Pigeon: Market Hunting at its Worst
The
sad story of the Passenger Pigeon surely represents the most
spectacular example of avian overexploitation in human history. Perhaps
a worthy rival exists today in the massive overfishing of the great cod
fisheries in the western North Atlantic, culminating in their closure
to commercial fishing in the mid-1990s.
As in the case of these fisheries, intensive market hunting of
Passenger Pigeons was aided by ever-improving technology. Sophisticated
netting techniques allowed the "catch" to be more complete. Whole
railroad lines were installed to export hundreds of tons of squabs
(young pigeons) and adults from massive colonies in the northern
deciduous forests to city markets, and freezer cars facilitated this
long-distance shipping.
Because the species nested in dense colonies and nestlings were easy
and delicious prey, a colony's entire reproductive output could be
wiped out during a single season. As a final blow, the Passenger
Pigeon's ultimate collapse may have been unusually swift because the
remaining birds simply stopped breeding altogether.