At one time there was a huge population but they became extinct in the early twentieth century. The passenger pigeon was endemic to North America. In 1914, the last known passenger pigeon, named Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo-as stark a reminder as ever that we should appreciate the beautiful and diverse pigeons we have before they’re gone.There are certain extinct animals that never seem to die in the minds of the public – the woolly mammoth and the dodo are two prime examples.Īnother is the passenger pigeon – interestingly a cousin of the dodo, both being members of the Columbidae family. But then, in less than a century, humans eradicated the species from the wild thanks to an insatiable hunger for the bird’s inexpensive meat combined with widespread deforestation. In the 1800s, the passenger pigeon ( Ectopistes migratorius) was thought to be one of if not the most numerous birds in the world, with a population of around three billion animals. But even these adaptable birds are not immune to extinction. With pigeons everywhere we look in urban life, it may be difficult to imagine a world without the cooing flocks. In 2020, a single racing pigeon named New Kim sold for around $1.9 million in a Belgian auction. In some parts of the world, the fastest pigeons still fetch mind-boggling sums. “For much of their history, they signified wealth and power,” says Mosco. More well known is the domesticated pigeon’s invaluable service of long-distance communication for many different civilizations, from the ancient Romans to Genghis Khan. There’s also evidence wild pigeons were a staple food source for Neanderthals, and later humans, beginning at least 67,000 years ago. ( Read how pigeons first landed in cities.) What’s more, the ubiquitous pigeon found in cities worldwide descends from a bird known as the rock dove, which people long ago domesticated. Both birds are members of the Columbidae family, and while the term ‘pigeon’ tends to be applied to larger species and ‘dove’ to smaller ones, Mosco notes in her illustrated field guide that there is actually no scientific or evolutionary distinction to either group. Interestingly, there’s no scientific difference between pigeons and the much more beloved doves. “They’re the world’s most overlooked birds.” They see colors we can't, hear sounds we can't, and find their way across hundreds of miles using mechanisms we don't fully understand,” she says.

“Pigeons are biological marvels,” says Rosemary Mosco, author of A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching. But with more than 300 species of wild pigeon found on Earth-many of them stunning-it’s past time the lowly pigeon gets its coo. People love to hate on pigeons for the way they foul up parked cars or flock to food scraps on the sidewalk.

Passenger pigeon