(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Imagine an indigenous bird species so plentiful it blotted out the skies.
Such was the density of the North American passenger pigeon, which numbered in the billions more than 100 years ago – until they were hunted out of existence.
“When you have a flock that’s a mile wide and goes on for like 20 or 30 miles, the hunters were shooting up into the air, and birds were just falling out of the air,” says Tim Snyder, vice president of zoological operations at Brookfield Zoo Chicago. “They would just throw them all into barrels and send the barrels into the cities to be sold.”
Destruction of the birds’ wooded habitat also played a role. Either way, passenger pigeons were literally wiped out before America’s entry into World War I. The very last passenger pigeon – a female named Martha -- died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
Snyder says the tragic demise of the passenger pigeon at least served as a warning that yielded The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a series of agreements between the United States and Canada, Mexico and other countries to protect native species.
The ubiquitous pigeons that Chicagoans know today are not passenger pigeons. Rather, they come from the rock doves that settlers brought from Europe to serve as pets or courier pigeons. The latter task eventually became obsolete, and this non-native species became feral and today lives here year-round, often to the consternation of humans.
“'Rats with wings,’ I've heard them described many times,” says Edward Warden, president of the Chicago Ornithological Society.
He does not share that opinion: “These birds are survivors. They're adaptable. And whether you like them or not, they deserve credit for that.”
2024 doesn’t just mark the 110th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon. It’s also the 25th anniversary of the peregrine falcon being elected Chicago’s official bird.
These raptors came back from the precipice of extinction in the early-1970s.
Man-made pollutants were blamed for decimating their population.
After efforts to revive the species, conservationists reasoned the cliff-dwelling falcons could flourish in an urban environment.
“Somebody had the bright idea: ‘Well, buildings kind of work like cliff faces,’” Warden says. “And Chicago was one of the first major cities where peregrine falcons were reintroduced to get them to nest and breed in cities. And it was wildly successful.”
Listen to our new podcast Looped In: Chicago
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram