Passenger Pigeon Day, 111 years gone – Mark Avery

Passenger Pigeon Day, 111 years gone – Mark Avery

The Passenger Pigeon memorial at Cincinnati Zoo. ‘On 1 September 1914, between midday and 1 pm, in the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, Ohio, a pigeon breathed her last, and with her died her species.            The pigeon was known as Martha, and the species was the Passenger Pigeon. Amongst all extinctions, this example remains unusual in two respects: the precision with which the timing is known and the overwhelming abundance …