This beautifully written cautionary tale reveals how passenger pigeons have become extinct and how no series effort was made to protect this species that inspired awe in the likes of John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau and James Fenimore Cooper until it was too late.

A haunting, beautifully illustrated memorial to this iconic extinct bird At the start of the nineteenth century, Passenger Pigeons were perhaps the most abundant birds on the planet, numbering literally in the billions. The flocks were so large and so dense that they blackened the skies, even blotting out the sun for days at a stretch. Yet by the end of the century, the most common bird in North America had vanished from the wild. In 1914, the last known representative of her species, Martha, died in a cage at the Cincinnati Zoo. This stunningly illustrated book tells the astonishing story of North America's Passenger Pigeon, a bird species that—like the Tyrannosaur, the Mammoth, and the Dodo—has become one of the great icons of extinction. Errol Fuller describes how these fast, agile, and handsomely plumaged birds were immortalized by the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon, and captured the imagination of writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. He shows how widespread deforestation, the demand for cheap and plentiful pigeon meat, and the indiscriminate killing of Passenger Pigeons for sport led to their catastrophic decline. Fuller provides an evocative memorial to a bird species that was once so important to the ecology of North America, and reminds us of just how fragile the natural world can be. Published in the centennial year of Martha’s death, The Passenger Pigeon features rare archival images as well as haunting photos of live birds.

"'The Passenger Pigeon' is from Ornithological Biography by John James Audubon. It was first published in 1831."--t.p. verso.

There is more to a bird than simply feathers. And just because birds evolved from a single flying ancestor doesn't mean they are structurally the same. With 385 stunning drawings depicting 200 species, The Unfeathered bird is a richly illustrated book on bird anatomy that offers refreshingly original insights into what goes on beneath the feathered surface.

Published in 1955 by the University of Oklahoma Press, this is the classic study of the extinction of the passenger pigeon. The passenger pigeon, 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 birds. Total populations may have reached 5 billion birds 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. No appreciable decline in the numbers was noted until the late 1870s but, thereafter, their destruction took only twenty-five years. 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 bird died in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden before any competent ornithologists could write an account of the species. A. W. Schorger reconstructed the life history of the passenger pigeon. Through painstaking research, he examined every aspect of the species -- behavioral characteristics, feeding methods, traveling and roosting habits, nesting - and the various stages of the species encounter with man, from utilization by the Native American to extinction at the hands of white settlers. From the original reviews: "This really shocking book ought to be required reading for every thoughtful citizen" Audubon Magazine "Reads as fascinatingly as many a novel" Cleveland Plain Dealer "Prodigious" Newsweek "Absorbing" Scientific American "An excellent book" Michigan History

The story of Passenger Pigeon, and what we can learn from its demise 100 years ago. September 1st, 2014 marked the centenary of one of the best-documented extinctions in history – the demise of the Passenger Pigeon. From being the commonest bird on the planet 50 years earlier, the species became extinct on that fateful day, with the death in Cincinnati Zoo of Martha – the last of her kind. This book tells the tale of the Passenger Pigeon, and of Martha, and of author Mark Avery's journey in search of them. It looks at how the species was a cornerstone of the now much-diminished ecology of the eastern United States, and how the species went from a population that numbered in the billions to nil in a terrifyingly brief period of time. It also explores the largely untold story of the ecological annihilation of this part of America in the latter half of the 19th century, a time that saw an unprecedented loss of natural beauty and richness as forests were felled and the prairies were ploughed, with wildlife slaughtered more or less indiscriminately. Despite the underlying theme of loss, this book is more than another depressing tale of human greed and ecological stupidity. It contains an underlying message – that we need to re-forge our relationship with the natural world on which we depend, and plan a more sustainable future. Otherwise more species will go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. We should listen to the message from Martha.

Based on the real-life events that triggered the greatest mass extinction in modern history – the end of the passenger pigeon – Martha takes budding readers on a grand adventure through a magical world complete with mystic owls, tom-fooling mice and a little straw-haired boy who protects the last living passenger pigeon on the planet from the evil Patsy Brothers. Born with a bum leg, Martha is pushed out of her nest just minutes after her birth. It’s all part of the Seven Cycles of Nature. But since the arrival of the Iron Horse, the Seven Cycles of Nature have been disrupted and the Great Owls know they need to do something to restore balance to their world. They decide to save Martha. Little do they know that Martha may one day, in her small way, save humanity.