The Sad Demise of the Passenger Pigeon

From: Long Haul Productions
Length: 07:15

The passenger pigeon was once the most common species in North America - now it's extinct. A look at how the bird disappeared. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: The Sad Demise of the Passenger Pigeon
From: Long Haul Productions

Passengerpigeion_small Host Introduction: The passenger pigeon was once the most common bird in North America. The Smithsonian estimates that as many as five Billion passenger pigeons filled the skies around the time Europeans arrived in North America. By the mid-19th century. their numbers were declining sharply though. In September 1914, the passenger pigeon claimed by conservationists to be the very last one in the species, died in the Cincinnati Zoo. She even had a name: Martha Jon Wuepper (wup-er), a naturalist and historian, has documented the decline of the passenger pigeon in southwest Michigan, one of the places where they nested in summer months. Wuepper scoured almost than 60 years of newspaper articles from Berrien County, Michigan ? the Niles Inquirer, the Berrien County Record, the St. Joseph Traveler ? from the late 1830?s to when the last passenger pigeon was killed in Berrien County in 1894. Tape 6:12 to deadroll music IC: "I was just going though..." OC: "...maybe save our selves if that's possible." Back announce: Jon Wuepper is a naturalist and historian at Cass County library in southwest Michigan. Our story on the passenger pigeon was produced by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister for long haul productions, in association with Chicago Public Radio. For more Long Haul stories go to www.longhaulpro.org

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Piece Description

Host Introduction: The passenger pigeon was once the most common bird in North America. The Smithsonian estimates that as many as five Billion passenger pigeons filled the skies around the time Europeans arrived in North America. By the mid-19th century. their numbers were declining sharply though. In September 1914, the passenger pigeon claimed by conservationists to be the very last one in the species, died in the Cincinnati Zoo. She even had a name: Martha Jon Wuepper (wup-er), a naturalist and historian, has documented the decline of the passenger pigeon in southwest Michigan, one of the places where they nested in summer months. Wuepper scoured almost than 60 years of newspaper articles from Berrien County, Michigan ? the Niles Inquirer, the Berrien County Record, the St. Joseph Traveler ? from the late 1830?s to when the last passenger pigeon was killed in Berrien County in 1894. Tape 6:12 to deadroll music IC: "I was just going though..." OC: "...maybe save our selves if that's possible." Back announce: Jon Wuepper is a naturalist and historian at Cass County library in southwest Michigan. Our story on the passenger pigeon was produced by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister for long haul productions, in association with Chicago Public Radio. For more Long Haul stories go to www.longhaulpro.org