Report from 1857 on Protecting Passenger Pigeons. Must See

[gthang]

This is a quote from a report dated 1857 of a select Ohio Senate committee on a bill proposed to protect Passenger Pigeons:

"The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, traveling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here today and elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly produced." Report of a select committee of the Ohio Senate in 1857 on a bill proposed to protect the Passenger Pigeon.

Needless to say, the bill probably never got passed, and the Passenger Pigeon's habitat was destroyed to make room for buildings, and logging for firewood. If the bill had been passed, the destroying of the pigeon's habitat could have been avoided, and thus we could have still been seeing them today. Of course, it takes more than just one state to help a species; it takes the whole nation to protect these birds.

Quote was found on the Extinct Birds page of www.50birds.com.

[gthang]

Also found this article about Asian extinction:
http://www.arbec.com.my/news/spore-extinct1.php

[samuel walker]

This is a quote from a report dated 1857 of a select Ohio Senate committee on a bill proposed to protect Passenger Pigeons:

"The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, traveling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here today and elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly produced." Report of a select committee of the Ohio Senate in 1857 on a bill proposed to protect the Passenger Pigeon.

Needless to say, the bill probably never got passed, and the Passenger Pigeon's habitat was destroyed to make room for buildings, and logging for firewood. If the bill had been passed, the destroying of the pigeon's habitat could have been avoided, and thus we could have still been seeing them today. Of course, it takes more than just one state to help a species; it takes the whole nation to protect these birds.

Quote was found on the Extinct Birds page of www.50birds.com.Gthang A cool piece of history to dig up.Like every other bird nerd in the midwest I've read Audubon's reports of millions of passenger pigeons blocking out the sun.I'm not totally convinced they are gone.The Whooping crane was declared extict in 1947 and in 1960 they were found in Texas.I have a pass'ger pigeon mount at a local nature center that I study regularly,just in case.The numbers of passenger pigeons 150 years ago seem to match the starling population of today.It would have taken only a few to survive.I'm sure they would be very deep but I won't quit them.
Keep your eyes and mind open
Sam

[gthang]

Not sure what they look like though, so I can't keep my eyes and ears open until I do...

No way in heck I'm gonna see a Golden Eagle in NY, they're extinct here...

[mcdowella]

I thought the passenger pigeon population crashed because they needed to congregate in large numbers to breed, so once they got below a certain level, no more were hatched. In that case it is unlikely that small numbers could have survived on their own.

For a while I thought that if there was one bird that could perhaps - and should - be brought back from DNA recovery as in Jurrassic park, it would be the passenger pigeon, but reading up on these huge locust-like flocks, I doubt if they could ever have coexisted with man once most of the nation was farmed, except perhaps as captive populations.

[weather]

I know I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, and I'm not as eloquent with words as some of you, but here's my take on this:
I love my birds and birding. Please understand this first. I look at the world a little more logically I guess. I truly believe that we are a force of nature, like anything else on this planet. The theory of evolution makes the most sense to me. Species have become extinct long before we ever showed up. Countless species have been driven out of a habitat by other species since the beginning of the planet. That's the way it is designed. To constantly give tests to species, to see if they can adapt. With this fundamental idea in place. You can assume we have our place in this plan. I'm sorry , but, if there is a certain species, that lives in a area of forests that we need to build homes, hospitals, schools...and if it can't adapt...sorry, but I vote for us. No I'm not a staunch republican, or for big business. I just looked at all the evidence, and this makes the most sense. If you can't adapt...then you're out of here. "The universe is haphazard, morally neutral, and unbelievably violent." I'm not closed minded to this, and any good arguments may sway my thinking.

Michael Stetz
Lakewood, Ohio