Pigeon - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The marker reads: "The name of this town recalls the now-extinct passenger pigeon, which in vast flights nested in the beech groves of this area. The nestlings were taken as food each spring by the Seneca Indians."

The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), once probably the most numerous bird on the planet, made its home in the billion or so acres of primary forest that once covered North America east of the Rocky Mountains. Their flocks, a mile wide and up to 300 miles long, were so dense that they darkened the sky for hours and days as the flock passed overhead. Population estimates from the 19th century ranged from 1 billion to close to 4 billion individuals. Total populations may have reached 5 billion individuals and comprised up to 40% of the total number of birds in North America. This may be the only species for which the exact time of extinction is known.

The immense roosting and nesting colonies invited over-hunting. Tens of thousands of individuals were harvested daily from nesting colonies, and shipped to markets in the east. Modern technology hastened the demise of the Passenger Pigeon. With the coming of the telegraph, the locations of flocks could be ascertained, and the birds relentlessly pursued.

The last nesting birds were reported in the Great Lakes region in the 1890’s. The last reported individuals in the wild were shot at Babcock, Wisconsin in 1899, and in Pike County, Ohio on March 24, 1900. Some individuals, however, remained in captivity.

The last Passenger Pigeon, named Martha, died alone at the Cincinnati Zoo at about 1:00 pm on September 1, 1914.

Marker Name: Pigeon County: Forest Date Dedicated: 06/03/1948 Marker Type: Roadside Location: Pa. 66, 6 miles NE of Marienville Category: Cities & Towns, Environment, Native American Website: [Web Link]

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