100 Years Ago Today: The Last of Her Kind

We love to spend time in the great outdoors with binoculars and camera, seeing what can be hidden in plain sight. I'm talking about birds. For many of us urban dwellers, birds are pretty much the only wildlife we ever encounter (with apologies to squirrels, deer, and the occasional fox). We love looking at them, seeing which ones come and go with the seasons, and of course we offer these feathered travelers food and shelter in our backyard. Unless you are Tippi Hedren in a certain Hitchcock film, everyone likes birds.

In the last century, the world has embraced the fact that bird species need our stewardship and attention. The banning of DDT has caused the Bald Eagle population to flourish. No longer do humans do a Christmas Day bird hunt, seeing how many birds they can "bag" or collect, instead birders spend the Christmas/holiday season counting birds.

There was a time when the Passenger Pigeon used to darken the sky with its flocks of millions. And there was a time when humans would kill these dove-like birds by the millions, using them for human consumption and sometimes for pig food. With no laws against decimating a bird population or any animal population, the last passenger pigeon, Martha, died quietly in the Cincinnati Zoo 100 years ago today.

 

A sad loss but also a teachable moment that helped spawn the conservation movement. Thanks for reading this and for believing that all species have worth in our world and should not be taken for granted that they'll always be around.