EXTINCT PASSENGER PIGEON Photo catalog: MALE PASSENGER PIGEON was slightly larger than the female an

EXTINCT PASSENGER PIGEONPhoto catalog:MALE PASSENGER PIGEON was slightly larger than the female and more brightly colored. It was monogamous, helped in nest building, incubating the egg, and feeding the young.MIGRATORY FLIGHT of the passenger pigeon was a spectacular sight. In 1832, one observer, (Alexander Wilson) estimated that more than two billion birds passed overhead in about four hours. THE EARLY DISTRIBUTION of the wild pigeon extended from its winter range in the Gulf States to nesting sites far north in Canada. Spring migration began in early March, and the return journey occurred in late September through November. FEMALE PASSENGER PIGEON laid only one egg, occasionally two, on a coarsely woven, thin platform of twigs. Eggs were hatched in 14 days. The naked young were fed “pigeon milk,” soft insects, and earth-worms for another 14 days when they were able to leave the nest. *The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon is an extinct North American bird. Named after the French word passager for “passing by”, it was once the most abundant bird in North America, and possibly the world. Martha, thought to be the world’s last passenger pigeon, died on September 1, 1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo. -- source link

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