Ectopistes migratorius

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Bibliography

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	COLUMBIFORMES	COLUMBIDAE

Scientific Name:

Ectopistes migratorius

Species Authority:

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Passenger Pigeon

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Extinct ver 3.1

Year Published:

2008

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Bird, J., Butchart, S.

History:

2004	–	Extinct
2000	–	Extinct
1994	–	Extinct
1988	–	Extinct

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Ectopistes migratorius was found forest in eastern and central Canada and the USA, occasionally wandering south to Mexico and Cuba⁴. Over the 19th century, the species crashed from being one of the most abundant birds in the world to extinction⁴. The last wild bird was shot in 1900, and the last captive bird died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo⁵.
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It was a nomadic species, breeding and foraging in vast flocks millions of birds strong. It exploited seasonally available crops of beechmast, acorns and chestnuts; scouting for food sources and infomation sharing was likely to have required flocks of a certain critical size, below which survival would be compromised. Birds nested in April or May in vast colonies typically 16 by 5 km in size.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The precise cause of its extinction is difficult to determine, but the widespread clearance of the hardwood trees which provided its mast food, and the proliferation of the rail network and telegraph system which enabled efficient location of nesting colonies and the transport of young birds to market are probably the two single most important factors. Other important factors were excessive shooting, Newcastle disease, and towards the last of their years, the breakdown of social facilitation^1,2,3.

Major Threat(s):

The precise cause of its extinction is difficult to determine, but the widespread clearance of the hardwood trees which provided its mast food, and the proliferation of the rail network and telegraph system which enabled efficient location of nesting colonies and the transport of young birds to market are probably the two single most important factors. Other important factors were excessive shooting, Newcastle disease, and towards the last of their years, the breakdown of social facilitation^1,2,3.

Bibliography [top]

	Blockstein, D. E.; Tordoff, H. B. 1985. Gone forever: a contemporary look at the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. American Birds 39(5): 845-851. Bucher, E. H. 1992. The causes of extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Current Ornithology 9: 1-36. Halliday, T. R. 1980. The extintion of the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius and its relevance to contemporary conservation. Biological Conservation 17: 157-167. Schorger, A. W. 1955. The Passenger Pigeon: its natural history and extinction. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, USA. Wilcove, D. 1989. In memory of Martha and her kind. Audubon 91: 52-55.

Blockstein, D. E.; Tordoff, H. B. 1985. Gone forever: a contemporary look at the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. American Birds 39(5): 845-851.

Bucher, E. H. 1992. The causes of extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Current Ornithology 9: 1-36.

Halliday, T. R. 1980. The extintion of the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius and its relevance to contemporary conservation. Biological Conservation 17: 157-167.

Schorger, A. W. 1955. The Passenger Pigeon: its natural history and extinction. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, USA.

Wilcove, D. 1989. In memory of Martha and her kind. Audubon 91: 52-55.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2008. Ectopistes migratorius. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 May 2012.
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