Passenger Pigeon - Most Abundant Bird In North America Ever

The passenger pigeon, which became extinct on September 1st, 1914, was the most abundant bird in the world in the nineteenth century and the most abundant ever in North America.

Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson once watched a 250-mile-long flock pass over his Kentucky home for two whole days. In 1813, naturalist John James Audubon saw a flock that flew past at an estimated 300 million birds per hour for three days, blotting out the sun.

However, due to vigourous hunting and destruction of their habitat, by the 1860s the birds had disappeared from the American east coast and were quickly disappearing everywhere else. 

The last big pigeon hunt took place in 1878 near Petoskey, Michigan, killing one thousand million birds. The last wild passenger pigeon was shot in St. Vincent, Quebec, on September 23rd, 1907. In 1909, a reward of $1,500 was offered for information on a nesting pair, but none were found