For thousands of years, before it disappeared from our skies, the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was one of the most common birds in North America. The range of these birds included most of the eastern half of the United States and the adjacent southern part of Canada. The pigeon was a visually striking bird similar to the mourning dove, but nearly twice as large and with red eyes; the male sported an iridescent peachy breast. Both the common and the scientific names derive from the birds’ tendency to move frequently as they followed favored food sources, particularly beech nuts and acorns. Numerous accounts tell of flocks numbering in the millions blotting out the sun for hours at a time. The birds roosted in such large numbers that there were reports of trees breaking and the ground being covered with droppings an inch deep. Fast and acrobatic flyers, the birds traveled in great flocks that arrived irregularly and somewhat unpredictably. The coming of the pigeons was an event unlike anything we can experience in nature today.
One hundred fifty springs have passed since the largest recorded passenger pigeon nesting occurred in central Wisconsin. In March of 1871, birds began arriving in the Rock River Valley area to nest Other estimates put the upper limit at four hundred nests in some trees. No other large nestings are known to have taken place in that year, so it is possible that nearly every breeding pigeon that existed nested in Wisconsin that year.
