PARRY SOUND – “Extinction is forever - or so we thought,” opened Mark Peck at his presentation at the West Parry Sound District Museum on Thursday evening, January 15. Peck, a technician in the Department of Natural history at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, presented on the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon and the De-Extinction Project – a project that aims to revive and restore the species. A sold out crowd listened intently as Peck described this once bountiful species and how in a matter of approximately 50 years it went from being the most numerous bird in the world to extinction. “It’s hard to imagine that 150 years ago this bird was probably the most common, most numerous bird on the planet,” said Peck. “They estimate as many as 6 billion birds in North America.” One of the most notable characteristics of the passenger pigeon was their enormous flocks. “So many pigeons would land on a branch in the tree they would actually break the branches and kill several of the birds in doing so,” said Peck. His presentation included numerous paintings done by artists that portray the sheer immensity of the species. Peck noted that virtually every image that you see of passenger pigeons includes large flocks and men with guns. A bird that would “block out the sun” with “wings that sounded louder than thunder,” – it seemed unimaginable to people that this species could, or would, ever die out. parrysound/news-story/5268018-the-bird-that-blocked-the-sun-the-passenger-pigeon/
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:37:31 +0000