Passenger Pigeon
Ectopistes migratorius

Range and population

Ectopistes migratorius was found forest in eastern and central Canada and the USA , occasionally wandering south to Mexico and Cuba⁴. Over the 19th century, the species crashed from being one of the most abundant birds in the world to extinction⁴. This was ultimately due to the effects of widespread clearance of its mast food², with the proximate causes being Newcastle disease, extensive hunting¹ and the breakdown of social facilitation³. The last wild bird was shot in 1900, and the last captive bird died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo⁵.

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