The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was once the most abundant bird in North America, primarily making their home in the midwestern United States and Canada. Their numbers were so large they often appeared like a cloud-like mass in the sky; their nests taking over whole forests. Known for their slate-blue feathers with pops of copper on their undersides (females more muted than males), passenger pigeons primarily fed on nuts such as acorns and beechnuts. The size of the passenger pigeon flocks made them an easy target for hunters, who attacked the bird in every way imaginable. Quickly, the passenger pigeon populations declined due to their commercialized slaughter and the disruption of their nesting grounds. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the sighting of a passenger pigeon nesting was incredibly rare. In September 1914, the last known passenger pigeon, Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo, marking the extinction of this once thriving bird species.
