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Passenger pigeons were once the most populous birds in America. Now they are extinct, the last one dying in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. Various factors, from overhunting to urban development, brought the population from billions to zero in a century – and the passenger pigeon is just one of many species to have gone extinct as humanity continues to change the environment for other purposes.
Extinct Birds on Display at the Smithsonian
In 2014, the Smithsonian opened an exhibition titled “Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America.” Among the taxidermy birds was Martha, the final passenger pigeon that died in Cincinnati a hundred years earlier. Also in the exhibit was a Bachman’s warbler, a species last seen in 1961 and declared extinct in 2023. The heath hen, Kauai oo, and Carolina parakeet were once-common birds in North America that have gone extinct in the last century or so.
The birds on display lead visitors to wonder what happened. “We hope to draw people in and then get them to think about these issues a little more in-depth outside of the exhibit,” explained Torben Rick, curator of North American archaeology at the museum.
Man-Made Extinction Events?
As explained recently in Smithsonian Magazine, between 1,300 and 1,500 species of birds are estimated to have gone extinct in the last 130,000 years. That number, which comes from a 2023 study, is twice as many as scientists had previously believed, and many of the extinctions were linked to human expansion and development.
About 90% of the bird extinctions occurred on islands, where they had smaller ranges and were more vulnerable to pressures such as habitat loss and hunting. That’s what happened with the Kauai oo, one of five species of Hawaiian honeyeater, all of which have gone extinct.
Other resources estimate a different number of bird species remaining – it could be as low as 9,000 or as high as 18,000. If those numbers and the ones from the 2023 study are accurate, that means that in the last 130,000 years something like 7% to more than 16% of all types of birds have gone extinct.
Why It Matters
Every creature plays a role in the environment. Birds eat bugs. According to the Audubon Society, a barn swallow can eat as many as 60 insects in an hour. They also spread seeds and fertilize the ground with their droppings.
Sometimes, birds build temporary nests, then abandon them and move on – only for other creatures, usually different type birds, to move in. This creates habitats for other wildlife. Vultures are the only vertebrate animals that live on just carrion, making them some of nature’s most effective cleaners. While most tasks carried out by now-extinct birds were picked up by other species, eventually, mass extinction could throw off the balance of nature.
There are still a lot of birds in the world. And, while some species have been wiped out by humanity over the last few hundred years, it isn’t all bad news. In Africa, a type of bird has learned to lead humans to wild beehives. In return for guiding people to the honey, the hunters leave the birds bee larvae to eat. In the United States, house wrens frequently build nests under the eaves of homes and outbuildings and thrive in rural and suburban communities.
Sadly, though, most human-bird interactions are much more dangerous to the birds than these symbiotic examples. If birds are going extinct, it’s important to recognize the loss and work to avoid making it worse.
4 Questions
The story, in brief
Why did passenger pigeons go extinct in America?
Passenger pigeons were once the most populous birds in America, but their numbers fell from billions to zero in about a century. The causes named include overhunting and urban development. The last passenger pigeon, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
What extinct birds were shown in the Smithsonian exhibition?
The Smithsonian exhibition “Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America” included Martha, the last passenger pigeon. It also displayed a Bachman’s warbler, a species last seen in 1961 and declared extinct in 2023. Other once-common North American birds mentioned include the heath hen, Kauai oo, and Carolina parakeet.
How many bird species may have gone extinct, and where were most losses?
A 2023 study estimated that between 1,300 and 1,500 species of birds have gone extinct in the last 130,000 years. That is about twice as many as scientists had previously believed. About 90% of those extinctions occurred on islands, where birds were more vulnerable to habitat loss and hunting.
Why does bird extinction matter to the environment?
Birds help the environment in many ways, including eating insects, spreading seeds, and fertilizing the ground with their droppings. Some birds also create temporary nests that later become habitat for other wildlife, and vultures are important cleaners because they live on carrion. The warning is that mass extinction could eventually throw off the balance of nature.
