The pigeon passengers or wild pigeons ( Ectopistes migratorius ) are endemic endangered pigeon species in North America. The name generally comes from the French word passager , which means "passing", because of the habit of species migration. The scientific name also refers to its migration characteristics. A morphologically similar pigeon (Zihida macroura) has long been regarded as its closest relative, and both are sometimes confused, but genetic analysis has shown that the genus Patagioenas is more closely related to it than Zenaida pigeon.
Passenger pigeons are sexually dimorphic in size and color. The male is 390-4.41 mm (15.4-16.1 in) in length, mainly gray at the top, lighter on the bottom, with colorful bronze fur on the neck, and black spots on the wing. Females are 380 to 400 mm (15.0 to 15.7 inches), and are bleaker and more brown than men overall. Teenagers are similar to women, but without a color game. It is mainly inhabited by the eastern forests of eastern North America and is also noted elsewhere, but was raised mainly around the Great Lakes. Pigeons migrate in large groups, constantly searching for food, shelter, and breeding grounds, and were once the most abundant bird in North America, amounting to about 3 billion, and possibly up to 5 billion, "at the time of American discovery," according to AW Schorger. Although one genetic study concluded that the bird was not always abundant, and that population size fluctuated dramatically over time, more recent studies, which took on much larger genetic data, found that the size of the pigeon-passenger population was stable for 20,000 people. years before the "decline of the 19th century and its eventual extinction." Very fast leaflets, passenger pigeons can reach speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph). The birds eat mainly on poles, as well as fruits and invertebrates. This is communal and communal communal breeding, and its extreme excitement may be linked to the search for satiety foods and predators.
Pigeon passengers were hunted by Native Americans, but hunting increased after the arrival of Europeans, especially in the 19th century. Pigeon meat is commercialized as cheap food, resulting in large scale hunting for decades. There are several other factors contributing to the decline and extinction of subsequent species, including the shrinking of the large breeding populations needed to preserve species and the widespread deforestation, which destroys its habitat. The slow decline between about 1800 and 1870 was followed by a rapid decline between 1870 and 1890. The last confirmed wild bird was estimated to be shot in 1901. The last captive birds were divided into three groups around the turn of the 20th century, some of which were photographed alive. Martha, who is considered the last passenger pigeon, died on September 1, 1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo. The eradication of this species is an obvious example of anthropogenic extinction.
Video Passenger pigeon
Taxonomy
The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus sparked the binomial name of Columba macroura for grieving doves and passenger pigeons in the 1758 edition of his Systema Naturae (the starting point of biological nomenclature), in which he apparently assumed both identical. This combined description tells the story of these birds in two pre-Linnean books. One of these is Mark Catesby's description of passenger pigeons, published in 1731-1743 of his work Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahamas , which calls this bird as Palumbus migratorius , and is accompanied by the earliest published illustrations of the species. The description of Catesby is combined with a description of 1743 about mourning grief by George Edwards, who uses the name C. macroura for the bird. Nothing can show that Linnaeus had seen the specimens of these birds themselves, and their descriptions are regarded as completely derived from these early records and the illustrations. In its 1766 edition Systema Naturae , Linnaeus dropped the name C. macroura , and instead used the name C.Ã, migratoria for pigeon passengers , and C. carolinensis for mourning pigeons. In the same edition, Linnaeus is also named CÃ ,Â, canadensis , based on Turtur canadensis , as used by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Brisson's picture is then shown on the basis of the pigeon female passengers.
In 1827 William John Swainson transferred passenger pigeons from the Columba genus into the new monotypic genus Ectopistes, in part because of the length of the wings and the shape of the tail slices.. In 1906 Outram Bangs suggested that since Linnaeus had copied the Catesby text entirely when unifying C. macroura , this name should apply to passenger pigeons, such as E. macroura . In 1918 Harry C. Oberholser suggested that C. canadensis should take precedence over C. migratoria (such as E. canadensis ), as it appears in the previous page in Linnaeus's book. In 1952 Francis Hemming proposed that the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) secure the specific name of macroura for mourning doves, and the name of migratorius for passenger pigeons, since this is a intended by writers whose work Linnaeus has based his description. This was accepted by ICZN, which used its plenary power to designate species for their respective names in 1955.
Evolution
Passenger pigeon is a member of the dove and pigeon family, Columbidae. His closest closest relative is considered long as the Zenaida pigeon, based on morphological reasons, especially the physically mourning pigeons (now Z., macroura ). It is even said that lament pigeons belong to the genus Ectopistes and are listed as E. carolinensis by several authors, including Thomas Mayo Brewer. Pigeon passengers are thought to have originated from Zenaida pigeons that have adapted to forests in the central plains of North America. Different passenger pigeons of the species within the genus Zenaida become larger, have no facial lines, are sexually dimorphic, and have colorful necklings and smaller clutches. In a 2002 study by American geneticist Beth Shapiro et al., Specimens of passenger pigeon museums were included in primitive DNA analysis for the first time (in papers focusing primarily on dodo), and were found to be a brother taxon of the genus cuckoo-dove Macropygia . The Zenaida pigeon actually proves to be related to quail-doves of the genus Geotrygon and Leptotila pigeons.
A wider 2010 study instead indicates that passenger pigeons are most closely associated with the New World Patapatoenas pigeons, including pigeon tail bands ( P.Ã, fasciata ) of western North America, associated with Southeast Asian species within the genus Turacoena , Macropygia and Reinwardtoena . This clade is also associated with the Columba and Streptopelia Old World pigeons (collectively called "typical pigeons and pigeons"). The authors of the study stated that the ancestors of passenger pigeons may have colonized the New World from Southeast Asia by flying across the Pacific Ocean, or perhaps across Beringia to the north. In a 2012 study, the core DNA of passenger pigeons was analyzed for the first time, and its association with the Patagioenas pigeon was confirmed. In contrast to the 2010 study, these authors suggest that their results may show that the ancestors of passengers and their relatives in the Old World may have originated in the New World Neotropic region.
The following clomograms follow the 2012 DNA study showing the position of passenger pigeon among its closest relatives:
DNA in old museum specimens is often degraded and fragmented, and passenger pigeon specimens have been used in various studies to find better methods for analyzing and sequencing the genomes of the material. DNA samples are often taken from a toe cushion from a bird's skin in a museum, as this can be done without causing significant damage to valuable specimens. Passenger pigeons have no known subspecies. Hybridisation occurred between passenger pigeons and Barbary pigeons ( Streptopelia risoria ) in aviary Charles Otis Whitman (who had many of the last breeding birds around the turn of the 20th century, and guarded it with other pigeon species) but his offspring did not fertile.
Etymology
The genus name, Ectopistes , is translated as "moving" or "wandering", while its specific name, migratory , shows its migration habits. Thus, full binomial can be translated as "migratory traveler". The English common name "pigeon passenger" comes from the French word passager , which means "passing" in a fast way. While pigeons still exist, passenger dove names are used interchangeably with "wild pigeons". The bird also gets some less frequent names, including blue dove, merne rouck pigeon, long-tailed pigeons, and wood pigeons. In the 18th century, passenger pigeons were known as tourte in New France (in modern Canada), but to France in Europe it was known as tourtre . In modern French, this bird is known as tourte voyageuse or migrateur pigeon , among other names. In the native American Algonquian language, pigeons are called amimi by Lenape, omiimii by Ojibwe, and mimia by Kaskaskia Illinois. Other names in Native American include ori'te in Mohawk, and putchee nashoba , or "lost pigeons", in Choctaw. The Senecas call the dove Jahgowa , which means "big bread", because that is the source of food for their tribe. Chief Simon Pokagon of Potawatomi declared that his men called the pigeons O-me-wog , and that Europeans did not adopt the original name for the bird, because it reminded them of their pet pigeons, calling them "wild" pigeons, because they call native "wild" men.
Maps Passenger pigeon
Description
Passenger pigeons are sexually dimorphic in size and color. It weighs between 260 and 340 g (9.2 and 12.0 oz). The adult male is about 390-410 mm (15.4-16.1 in) in length. It has a bluish gray head, a nape, and a hindneck. On the neck and upper mantle is a colorful feather that has been described as a bright bronze, purple or golden green, depending on the angle of light. The back and the upper wing are pale gray or gray tinged with olive chocolate, which turns into a grayish brown on the bottom wing. The lower back and buttocks are dark gray gray which becomes grayish brown on the top-hidden tail feather. The feathers of the larger and median wings are pale gray, with a small number of irregular black spots near the end. The primary and secondary wing fur is a blackish brown with a narrow white edge on the secondary outer side. Both central tail feathers are gray-brown, and the rest are white. The tail pattern is typical because it has a white outer edge with blackish spots that are clearly displayed in flight. The throat and lower chest are very pink, graded into pale pinks underneath, and become white in the abdomen and have secret feathers. Undertail cover also has some black dots. The bill was black, while the legs and feet were bright red. It has a red-carmine iris surrounded by a narrow purple-red eye ring. The wings are 196 to 215 mm (7.7-8.5 inches) in diameter, 175 to 210 mm (6.9 to 8.3 inches) in tail, 15 to 18 mm in half (0.59 to 0.71 inches ), and the tarsus is 26 to 28 mm (1.0 to 1.1 inches).
Adult female passenger pigeons are slightly smaller than those of men 380 to 400 mm (15.0 to 15.7 inches). It's bleaker than the male overall, and the grayish chocolate on the forehead, crown, and the nape down to the scapular, and the feathers on the side of the neck have less color game than the men. The throat and lower chest are grayish yellow that develops into white in the abdomen and covers the abdomen. It's more brown on the top and more pale brown buffalo and less rufous on the bottom than the male. Wings, back, and tail have a similar appearance to that of a man except that the outer edge of the main feather-eyed buff or buff rufous. Wings have more spots than men. The tail is shorter than the male, and the legs and feet are redder. The iris is orange red, with a grayish and grayish blue orbital ring. The female wings are 180 to 210 mm (7.1 to 8.3 inches), the tail is 150 to 200 mm (5.9-7.9 inches), the beak is 15 to 18 mm (0.59 to 0.71 inches) and tarsus is 25 to 28 mm (0.98 to 1.10 inches).
Pigeons of adolescent passengers resemble feathers to adult females, but do not have spots on the wings, and are dark brownish gray on head, neck, and breast. The feathers on the wing have a pale gray edge (also described as white tip), giving it a scale display. The secondary is brownish-black with pale borders, and the thick hairs have bruises. Its predecessors also brown-rufous eyed. The neck hair has no color game. Her feet and legs are dull red, and the iris is brownish, and is surrounded by a narrow carmine ring. Sex coat is similar during their first year.
Of the hundreds of living skins, only one looks aberrant in color - an adult woman from the Walter Rothschild collection, the Natural History Museum at Tring. These are the washed chocolates at the top, the secret wings, the secondary feathers, and the tail (where it's supposed to be gray), and white on the main and bottom feathers. Black spots are usually brown, and the pale gray on the head, lower back, and upper tail feathers, but the color game is not affected. Brown mutation is the result of eumelanin reduction, due to incomplete synthesis (oxidation) of this pigment. These sex-related mutations are common in wild female birds, but it is estimated that white fur from these specimens is the result of bleaching due to sun exposure.
Pigeon passengers are physically adapted for speed, durability, and maneuverability in flight, and have been described as having a slim version of a typical pigeon shape, such as the common rock dove (Columba livia). The wings are very long and pointed, and measured 220 mm (8.7 inches) from the chords to the main feathers, and 120 mm (4.7 inches) to the secondary. The tail, which is very long, long and wedge-shaped (or passing), with two middle feathers longer than the other. His body was slender and narrow, and his head and neck were small.
The internal anatomy of passenger pigeons is rarely depicted. Robert W. Shufeldt found little to distinguish bird osteology from that of other pigeons when examining male skeletons in 1914, but Julian P. Hume noted several different features in the more detailed description of 2015. Pigeons have very large chest muscles that show strong flight (major pectoralis musculus for downstroke and smaller supracoracoideus musculus to fight stroke). The coracoid bone (which connects the scapula, furcula, and sternum) is relatively large with a bird size, 33.4 mm (1.31 inches), with a more straight axle and a stronger articular end than in other pigeons. Furcula has a sharper and stronger V shape, with expanded articular ends. The scapula is long, straight and strong, and the distal end is enlarged. The sternum is very large and strong compared to other pigeons; keelnya as deep as 25 mm (0.98 inches). The overlapping process of exclusion, which strengthens the ribs, is very well developed. Bone wings (humerus, radius, ulna, carpometacarpus) are short but strong compared to other pigeons. The leg bone is similar to other pigeons.
Vocalizations
The noise generated by passengers of passenger pigeons was depicted deafening, audible for miles and miles, and the sound of the bird was hard, rough, and not funny. It was also described by some as clucks, twittering, and cooing, and as a series of low tones rather than actual songs. The birds apparently make a roar when building a nest, and sound like a bell when married. While feeding, some people will give an alarm call when facing a threat, and the rest of the herd will join the sound during takeoff.
In 1911, American behavioral scientist Wallace Craig published a report on the movement and sound of this species as a series of musical descriptions and notations, based on the observations of CO Whitman's passenger pigeon in 1903. Craig collected these records to help identify potential victims in wildlife (such as a physically similar mourning pigeon can be considered wrong because passenger pigeons), while noting that this "small information" is likely to be left on the subject. According to Craig, one call is a simple "keck" rough that can be given twice in a row with a pause in between. This is said to be used to attract the attention of other pigeons. Other calls are more frequent and varied nagging. This sound is described as "kee-kee-kee" or "tete! Tete! Tete!", And is used to call a spouse or against another creature that is considered an enemy. One variant of this call, described as a long and protracted "tweet", can be used to summon a flock of passenger pigeons passing overhead, which will then land on a nearby tree. "Keeho" is gentle cooing it, while followed by a louder "keck" note or nagging, directed at the bird pair. A nesting passenger pigeon will also emit at least eight mixed note notes that have high and low notes and end with a "keeho". Overall, female pigeons are quieter and rarely dubbed. Craig suggests that loud, shrill, and "slumped" musicality is the result of living in densely populated colonies where only the loudest sounds can be heard.
Distribution and habitat
Pigeon passengers are found in most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, from the Great Plains to the Atlantic coast to the east, to the south of Canada to the north, and to the north of Mississippi in the southern United States, coinciding with its main habitat, the eastern fall forest. In this range, he continues to migrate for food and shelter. It is not clear whether birds love certain trees and terrain, but they may not be limited to one species, provided they can be supported. It was originally raised from the southern part of eastern and central Canada to Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Georgia in the United States, but the main breeding range in southern Ontario and the Great Lakes declared south through the northern states of the Appalachian Mountains. Although western forests are ecologically similar to forests in the east, these are occupied by band's tail pigeons, which may keep passenger pigeons through competitive exceptions.
Pigeon winter passengers from Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina south to Texas, Gulf Coast and northern Florida, though sometimes cattle flashed as far north as Pennsylvania and southern Connecticut. It prefers winter in the big swamps, especially those with alder trees; if swamps are not available, forest areas, especially with pine trees, preferably cultivated places. There are also pseudo-pigeon sightings beyond their normal range, including in some Western states, Bermuda, Cuba, and Mexico, especially during severe winters. It has been argued that some of these extralimital records may be considered more based on the lack of observers in a country that was at that time uneasy than at the actual levels of wandering passenger pigeons, and that the bird may have appeared anywhere on the continent except for the far west. There are also records of people lost in Scotland, Ireland and France, although these birds may have been captured, or the records are not true.
More than 130 passenger pigeon fossils have been found scattered in 25 US states, including La Brea Tar Pits of California. These records date from 100,000 years ago in the era of the Pleistocene, where the pigeon range was extended to several western states that were not part of its modern reach. The abundance of species in this region and so far is unknown.
Ecology and behavior
Passenger pigeons are nomadic, continuing to migrate for food, shelter, or nesting places. In his 1831 Ornithology Biography, American naturalist and artist John James Audubon described the migration he observed in 1813 as follows:
I got down, sat down on an eminent, and started marking with my pencil, making a point for every passing flock. In a short time finding the task I had done could not be done, when the birds entered many people, I got up and, counting the dots and laying down, found that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes. I travel, and still meet the farther I continue. The air is completely filled with Pigeons; daylight is obscured by eclipses; droppings fall in spots, unlike melted snowflakes, and the constant hum of wings has a tendency to lull my senses to rest... I can not explain to you the extreme beauty of their air evolution, when an eagle happens to press on behind flock. At once, like a torrent, and with a thunderlike sound, they rush to a compact mass, pressing each other toward the center. In this almost dense mass, they rush forward in wavy and angled lines, descend and sweep the earth at an unimaginable speed, mounted perpendicularly to resemble large columns, and, when tall, are seen circling and spinning in their advanced line. , which then resembled a giant snake coil... Before sunset I reached Louisville, away from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. Pigeons still pass in an amount that is not reduced and continue to do so for three consecutive days.
These herds of cattle are often described as being so dense that they blacken the sky and have no sign of subdivision. These herds range from only 1.0 m (3.3 ft) above the ground in windy conditions up to as high as 400 m (1,300 ft). These migrating flocks are usually in narrow, twisted, non-wavy columns, and they are reported to be in almost every possible shape. Trained pamphlets, passenger pigeons are estimated to have an average of 100 km/h (62 mph) during migration. It flies quickly, repeating the flap that increases the speed of the bird closer to the wings of the body. It's equally adept and fast flying through the forest like through open spaces. A herd is also adept at trailing the pigeons in front of him, and the herds turn together to avoid the predator. When landing, the pigeon flapping its wings repeatedly before raising it on landing. Pigeons are awkward when on the ground, and move with thorns, alert steps.
Passenger pigeon is one of the most social of all land birds. It is estimated to have amounted to three to five billion at the peak of its population, perhaps it is the most birds on Earth; Researcher Arlie W. Schorger believes that it accounts for between 25 and 40 percent of the total land bird population in the United States. The historic population of passenger pigeons is roughly equivalent to the number of winter birds in the United States each year at the beginning of the 21st century. Even within their reach, the size of individual flocks can vary greatly. In November 1859, Henry David Thoreau, writing in Concord, Massachusetts, noted that "quite a few pigeons were raised here last summer," while only seven years later, in 1866, a herd in southern Ontario was described as Width 1 , 5Ã, km (0.93Ã, mi) and length of 500Ã, km (310Ã, mi), takes 14 hours to pass, and held more than 3.5 billion birds. Such a number would likely represent most of the entire population at the time, or possibly all. Most estimates of numbers are based on a single migration colony, and it is not known how many are there at any given time. American writer Christopher Cokinos advises that if the birds fly with a single file, they will stretch out on earth 22 times.
A genetic study of 2014 (based on coalescence theory and on the "sequence of most genomes" of three individual pigeons) shows that passenger pigeon populations experienced dramatic fluctuations over the last millions of years, due to their dependence on the availability of poles (which themselves fluctuate). This study suggests that birds are not always abundant, especially surviving at about 1/10,000 the number of several billions estimated in the 1800s, with a much greater amount present during the rupture phase. Some initial accounts also indicate that the appearance of large numbers of cattle is an unusual occurrence. The large fluctuations in this population may be the result of disturbed ecosystems and comprise a much larger outbreak population than was common in pre-Europe. The authors of the 2014 genetic study note that a similar analysis of the size of the human population arrives at an "effective population size" between 9,000 and 17,000 people (or approximately 1/550,000 total human peoples total peak of 7 billion cited in learning).
For genetic studies 2017, the authors sequenced the complete genome of two passenger pigeons, as well as analyzing mitochondrial DNA from 41 individuals. This study (based on Bayesian coalescence analysis) found that the passenger pigeon population was stable over the previous 20,000 years. The study also found that the population size of passenger pigeons over that time period is much greater than that of the genetic study of 2014. However, the 2017 study's "conservative" estimate of the "effective population size" of 13 million birds is still only about 1/300 of the historic population it is estimated that the bird is about 3-5 billion before the "19th century decline and eventual extinction." A similar study that concluded the size of the human population of genetics (published in 2008, and using human mitochondrial DNA and the Bayesian koalescent inference method) showed considerable accuracy in reflecting the overall pattern of human population growth compared with data concluded in other ways - although research this arrives. on the size of the effective population of humans (in 1600 AD, for Africa, Eurasia, and America combined) of approximately 1/1000 of the estimated census population for the same time and region based on anthropological and historical evidence. The 2017 pigeon-genetic studies of 2017 also found that, despite the large population size, very low genetic diversity within the species, which is useful in enabling faster evolution and eliminating harmful mutations but also making them more vulnerable to humans. pressure. This study concludes that the previous suggestion that population instability contributes to species extinction is therefore invalid. The evolutionary biologist A. Townsend Peterson says of two genetic studies of passenger pigeons (published in 2014 and 2017) that, although the idea of ​​extreme fluctuations in the pigeon-passenger population is "deeply ingrained," he is reassured by the argument of study 2017., due to " "and" massive data sources. "
Species that live together, passenger pigeons choose a perch place that can provide shelter and enough food to sustain their large quantities for an indefinite period. The time spent in one farm location may depend on the level of human abuse, weather conditions, or other unknown factors. Roosts range in size and breadth, from several hectares to 260 km 2 (100Ã, sqÃ, mi) or larger. Some roost areas will be reused for subsequent years, others will only be used once. Passenger pigeons roam in such numbers that thick tree branches will break under pressure. Birds often pile up on their backs to perch. They rest in a degenerate position that hides their legs. They sleep with their money hidden by the feathers in the middle of the chest while holding their tails at a 45-degree angle. Dirt can accumulate under the site of a lift to a depth of more than 0.3 m (1.0 ft).
If pigeons become alert, often stretch their head and neck according to body and tail, then nod their heads in a circular pattern. When aggravated by other pigeons, he lifted his wings with threatening, but passenger pigeons almost never really fought. Pigeons bathe in shallow water, and then lie on each side alternately and lift the opposing wings to dry them. Pigeons passengers drink at least once a day, usually at dawn, by fully incorporating bills into lakes, ponds, and rivers. Pigeons are seen perched on top of each other to access water, and if necessary, the species can go down in the open water to drink. One of the main causes of natural death is weather, and every spring many people die of cold after migrating north too early. In captivity, a passenger pigeon is able to live at least 15 years; Martha, the last known living passenger pigeon, was 17 years old and probably 29 years old when she died. It's not listed how long the wild pigeons live.
The bird is believed to have played a significant ecological role in the composition of pre-Columbian forests in eastern North America. For example, while passenger pigeons still exist, forests are dominated by white oak trees. This species germinates in autumn, making it almost useless as a food source during the spring mating season, while red oak trees produce grains during the spring, eaten by pigeons. The lack of consumption of passenger pigeon seeds may have contributed to the modern dominance of red oak trees. Due to the abundance of dirt present on the livestock site, some plants grow for many years after pigeons live. Also, the accumulation of combustible debris (such as broken limbs of trees and leaves killed by impurities) at these sites may have increased the frequency and intensity of forest fires, which would favor species that are fire resistant, such as oak trees , black. oaks and white oaks on less fire-resistant species, such as red oak trees, which helps explain the changes in eastern forest composition since passenger pigeon extinction (from white oak, oak bur and black oak trees dominate in forests) pre-residential forests, for the dramatic "dramatic expansion" of today's red oak trees). A study released in 2018 concludes that "large numbers" of passenger pigeons present for "tens of thousands of years" will affect the evolution of tree species that they eat - especially those that cut down trees that produce seeds during the spring spawning season (like oaks red) evolved so that some of their seeds would be too large to be ridden by passenger pigeons (thus allowing some of their seeds to escape predation and grow new trees), while white oak trees, with their seeds. consistently sized in edible range, evolved an irregular masting pattern that occurred in the fall, when fewer pigeon passengers would be present. Further studies conclude that this allows white oak trees to become the dominant tree species in areas where passenger pigeons generally exist in the spring. With large quantities in passenger pigeons, the impurities they produce are sufficient to destroy surface vegetation in long-term perches, while adding large amounts of nutrients to the ecosystem. Because of this - along with tree leg breaking under their collective weight and the large number of poles they consume - passenger pigeons are thought to have affected both the structure of the eastern forest as well as the composition of the species present there. Because of this influence, some ecologists consider passenger pigeons as a key species, with the loss of large herds leaving a large gap in the ecosystem. To help fill that gap, it has been proposed that modern land managers try to replicate some of its effects on the ecosystem by creating openings in the forest canopy to provide more understory light.
The American chestnut tree that provides many poles in which the dove fed itself was almost pushed to extinction by the Asian import fungus (chestnut blight) circa 1905. A total of thirty billion trees are thought to die as a result of after decades, but this does not affect pigeon passengers, extinct in the wild at the time.
After the disappearance of passenger pigeons, other types of feeding population, white-legged rats, grow exponentially due to increased availability of oak, beech and chestnut seeds. It has been speculated that the passenger pigeon extinction may have increased the prevalence of tick-borne lyme disease in modern times as white-legged mice are the reservoir hosts of Borrelia burgdorferi .
Diet
Beech and oak produce the poles needed to support nest and poultry. Passenger pigeons change their diet depending on the season. In autumn, winter, and spring, it mainly eats beechnuts, acorns, and chestnuts. During the summer, softer fruits and berries, such as blueberries, grapes, cherries, mulberries, pokeri, and ponds, are the main objects of consumption. It also eats worms, caterpillars, snails, and other invertebrates, especially when breeding. In addition, he took advantage of cultivated grains, especially wheat, when he found it. Especially salt, which is digested either from brackish springs or salt soils. Poles appear in large quantities in different places at different times, and rarely in a few consecutive years, which is one of the reasons why large groups continue to move. Since the pole is produced during the fall, there must be a large amount left in the summer, when young children are raised. It is not known how they found this fluctuating food source, but their sight and flight strength helped them survey a large area for places that could provide enough food for temporary shelter.
Pigeons passengers foraging in groups of tens or hundreds of thousands of individuals who turn their leaves, soil, and snow with their bills for food. An observer describes the movement of such a herd in the search for the pole as a rolling creature, while the birds behind the flock flew over the flock, dropping the leaves and grass in flight. Herds of cattle have a wide front edge to better scan the landscape for food sources. When the beans on the tree are released from their hats, a pigeon will land on a branch and, flapping strongly to keep it balanced, grab the nut, pull it off the lid, and swallow it all. Collectively, feeding flocks are able to remove almost all fruits and nuts from their paths. The birds behind the flock flew forward to take over the unexamined land; However, birds never roam away from the herd and rush back if they become isolated. It is believed that pigeons use social cues to identify abundant food sources, and a group of pigeons who see others eating on the ground often join them. During the day, birds leave the forest to feed on open land. They regularly fly 100 to 130 km (62 to 81 mi) from their cages every day to search for food, and some pigeons reportedly traveled as far as 160 km (99 mi), leaving the area clustered early and returning at night.
Passenger pigeons have very elastic mouth and throat, allowing for increased capacity, and the joints at the bottom of it allowing to swallow the entire acorn. It can store large amounts of food in the plant, which can extend to the size of an orange, causing the neck to swell and allowing the bird to quickly pick up the food it finds. This plant is depicted capable of holding at least 17 seeds or 28 beechnuts, 11 corn grains, 100 maple seeds, plus other ingredients; It is estimated that a passenger pigeon needs to eat about 61 cm 3 (3.7 inches) of food a day to survive. If shot, a pigeon with a plant full of nuts will fall to the ground with sounds described as rattling pockets of marbles. After eating, pigeons perched on the branches and digested the food stored in their crops overnight. Pigeons can eat and digest 100 g (3.5 oz) of seed per day. In the historical population of three billion passenger pigeons, this amounts to 210,000,000 L (55,000,000 US gal) of food a day. Pigeons can spew food from their crops when more desirable food is available. A study of 2018 found that the range of food from passenger pigeons was limited to a particular seed size, because of the size of the hole. This will prevent it from eating some tree seeds like red oak, black oak, and American chestnut. Specifically, the study found that between 13% and 69% of red oak seeds were too large to pigeon passengers swallowed, that only "small proportions" of black oak and American chestnuts were too large for birds to eat. , and that all white oak seeds are sized in edible range. They also found that the seeds would be completely destroyed during digestion, which therefore hindered the spread of the seed in this way. Instead, a passenger pigeon may spread the seeds with regurgitation, or after death.
Reproduction
In addition to finding farm sites, migrating pigeon passengers are connected by finding suitable places for these communal breeding birds to nest and raise their children. It is uncertain how many times a year the birds multiply; it seems most likely, but some accounts show more. The nesting period lasts about four to six weeks. The herd arrived in a nest around March in the southern latitudes, and sometime later in the more northern areas. Pigeons have no loyalty in place, often choosing to nest in different locations each year. The establishment of egg-laying colonies need not occur until several months after the pigeons arrive at their breeding grounds, usually during late March, April, or May.
The colonies, known as "cities", are vast, ranging from 49 hectares (120 hectares) to thousands of hectares in size, and are often long and narrow (L-shaped), with some untouched areas to be known. reason. Because of topography, they rarely continue. Since no accurate data is recorded, it is not possible to give more than expected on the size and population of these nesting sites, but most accounts mention colonies that contain millions of birds. The largest nesting area ever recorded was in central Wisconsin in 1871; reported as an area of ​​2,200 km 2 (850Ã, sqÃ, mi), with the number of birds nesting there estimated at 136,000,000. As with these "cities," there are regular reports of even smaller flocks or even individual couples making nesting places. Birds do not seem to form as large breeding colonies on the outskirts of their reach.
Dating takes place in colonies that lay their eggs. Unlike other doves, courtship takes place in a branch or perch. Men, with growing wings, make the call "keck" while near women. The man then clutched tightly to the branch and eagerly flapped his wings up and down. When a man is close to a woman, he then presses him on the perch with his head held high and pointing at him. If receptive, women press against the back against men. When ready to marry, the couple is united. This was followed by a bird bill, where women put their bills in and grasped the men's bill, shook for a second, and parted quickly while standing next to each other. The man then rushes to the woman's back and copulates, which is then followed by a soft voice and occasionally more preening. John James Audubon describes the passenger dove courtship as follows:
Either countless resorts, and prepare to fulfill one of the great laws of nature. In this period, the notes on Merpati are coo-coo-coo soft which is much shorter than domestic species. General notes resemble monosyllables kee-kee-kee-kee, the first being the hardest, the other gradually diminishing in power. Men take an arrogant attitude, and follow the female, either on the ground or on the branch, with a spreading tail and drooping wings, which rub against the moving parts. Body lifted, throat swell, eyes glistening. He goes on his notes, and now and then rises on the wings, and flies a few yards to approach the fugitive and frightened woman. Like domestic pigeons and other species, they stroked each other by billowing, where actions, bills were introduced transversely to another, and both sides alternately cut off their plant contents with repeated attempts.
After observing the breeding birds, Wallace Craig found that this species did less charging and twisting than other pigeons (because it was weird on the ground), and thought that perhaps no food was being removed during their short billing (unlike in other pigeons) , and therefore he considers the description of Audubon partly based on analogy with other pigeons as well as imagination.
The nest is built immediately after the couple's formation and takes two to four days to build; this process is highly synchronized in a colony. The woman chose a nesting place by sitting on it and flicking its wings. The man then carefully selects the nesting material, usually the twig, and hands it to the female on his back. The man then searches for more nesting material while the females build nests underneath. The nest is built between 2.0 and 20.1 m (6.6 and 65.9 feet) above the ground, though usually above 4.0 m (13.1 ft), and made of 70-110 twigs woven together for creating a loose and shallow bowl through which the eggs can be easily seen. This bowl is usually coated with a finer twig. The nest has a width of about 150 mm (5.9 inches), a height of 61 mm (2.4 inches), and 19 mm (0.75 inches). Although the nest has been described as crude and fragile compared to many other birds, the remnants of the nest can be found on the site where the nesting had occurred several years earlier. Almost every tree capable of supporting the nest has it, often more than 50 per tree; one hemlock recorded holding 317 nests. The nests are placed in strong branches close to the tree trunk. Some accounts state that the land beneath the nesting area looks as though it has been wiped clean, because all twigs are collected at the same time, but this area has also been covered in feces. Since both sexes nurse the nest, the couples are monogamous during the spawn.
Generally, eggs are laid during the first two weeks of April across the pigeon range. Every woman puts her eggs immediately or almost immediately after the nest is complete; sometimes pigeons are forced to put it on the ground if the nest is incomplete. The size of a normal clutch seems to have been an egg, but there is some uncertainty about this, since two have also been reported from the same nest. Sometimes, a second woman puts her egg in another female's nest, producing two eggs present. The eggs are white and oval in shape and average 40 by 34 mm (1.6 by 1.3 inches) in size. If the egg is missing, it is possible for the pigeon to lay the replacement egg within a week. The entire colony is known to re-lodge after a blizzard forces them to leave their original colony. The eggs were incubated by both parents for 12 to 14 days, with men hatching them from morning to afternoon and evening and the females incubating for the rest of the time.
After hatching, nestling (or squab) becomes blind and rarely covered with yellow hair down. Curls develop rapidly and within 14 days weigh as much as their parents. During this brooding period both parents take care of the nest, with men present at midday and women at a later time. The nests are fed dairy crops (a substance similar to curd, produced on plants from mother birds) exclusively for the first days after hatching. Adult food is gradually introduced after three to six days. After 13 to 15 days, the parents feed the last time and then leave it, leaving the nested area en masse . The nest begs in the nest for a day or two, before climbing from the nest and flying to the ground, after it moves, avoids obstacles, and begs for food from adults nearby. That's three or four days before he flies. The entire nesting cycle takes approximately 30 days. It is not known whether the colony nests back after a successful nest. Pigeon adult passengers sexually during the first year and grew up next spring.
Predators and parasites
Nesting colonies attract a large number of predators, including American mink, American weasel, American martens, and raccoons that prey on eggs and nests, birds of prey, such as owls, eagles, and eagles that prey on nestlings and adults, and wolves, foxes, Bobcats, bears , and mountain lions that prey on wounded adults and fallen nests. Eagles of the genus Accipiter and hawks chase and prey on the aviation pigeons, which in turn perform complex air maneuvers to avoid them; The Cooper Hawk is known as the "big pigeon eagle" for its success, and these eagles are thought to follow migration of passenger pigeons. While many predators are attracted to cattle herds, individual pigeons are largely protected because of the large sheep size, and overall minor damage can occur in flocks with predation. Despite the number of predators, the colonies are laying so large that they are estimated to have a 90% success rate if undisturbed. After being abandoned and leaving the nest, the very fat teenagers are vulnerable to predators until they can fly. The number of adolescents on the ground means that only a fraction of them are killed; Therefore, predator predators can be one of the reasons for the very social habits and species communal breeding.
Two parasites have been recorded on passenger pigeons. One species of phtilopterid flea, Columbicola extinctus, was originally thought to be living only with passenger doves and becoming familiar with them. This proved to be inaccurate in 1999 when C. extinctus was rediscovered in the pigeon tail of the band. This, and the fact that the related bugs are especially found on the turtledoves, further supports the link between these pigeons, because the phylum phyla extensively reflects that of their host. Another tick, Campanulotes defectus , is considered unique to passenger pigeons, but is now believed to have been the case of contaminated specimens, since the species is considered to still exist Campanulotes flavus from Australia. There are no records of wild pigeons dying of disease or parasites.
Relationships with humans
For fifteen thousand years or more before the arrival of Europeans in America, passenger and native American pigeons coexisted in the forests that later became the eastern part of the continent of the United States. A study published in 2008 found that, in most Native American land use practices, Holocene greatly affected forest composition. The usual use of specified fire, girdling of undesirable trees, and planting and caring for preferred trees suppress populations of a number of tree species that do not produce nuts, seeds, or fruits, while increasing populations of many species of tree that do. In addition, the litter burning of the forest floor makes this food easier to find, once they fall from a tree. Some argue that land use practices of Native Americans increase the population of various animal species, including passenger pigeons, by increasing the food available to them, while elsewhere it has been claimed that, by hunting down passenger pigeons and competing with them for some types of nuts and seeds -dian, Native Americans are pressing the size of their population. Genetic research can explain some of these questions. A 2017 study of passenger-dove DNA found that the size of the passenger-pigeon population was stable for 20,000 years before its decline in the 19th century and the subsequent extinction, while a 2016 study of Native American DNA found that Native Americans passed a period of rapid expansion, 60 fold, starting about 13-16 thousand years ago. If these two studies are true, then major changes in Native American population size have no real impact on the size of the passenger pigeon population. This suggests that the net effect of Native American activity on the size of the passenger-dove population is neutral.
Passenger pigeons play a religious role for some native North American tribes. The people of Wyandot (or Huron) believe that every twelve years during the Feast of the Dead, the souls of the dead turn into passers-by, which are then hunted and eaten. Before hunting for teenage pigeons, Seneca men made offerings of wampum and brooches to old passenger pigeons; this is placed in a small carafe or other container with a smoky fire. The Ho-Chunk people consider passenger doves as headbands, as they are served whenever the chief gives a party. The people of Seneca believe that white pigeons are heads of passenger pigeon colonies, and that the Bird Council has decided that pigeons should give their bodies to Seneca because they are the only birds nesting in the colony. Seneca developed a pigeon dance as a way to show their gratitude.
The French explorer Jacques Cartier was the first European to report passenger pigeons, during his voyage of 1534. The bird was later observed and recorded by historical figures such as Samuel de Champlain and Cotton Mather. Most of the early accounts lived in a large number of pigeons, dark skies generated, and large numbers of birds being hunted (50,000 birds were reportedly sold in the Boston market in 1771). The early colonists thought that a large flight of pigeons would be followed by bad luck or illness. When winter pigeons are out of their normal range, some believe they will have "sick summer and autumn." In the 18th and 19th centuries, various parts of pigeons were considered to have medicinal properties. Blood should be good for eye disorders, powdered stomach lining is used to treat dysentery, and dirt is used to treat various ailments, including headaches, stomach aches, and lethargy. Although they do not survive as long as the goose feathers, passenger pigeons are often used for sleeping mats. The pigeon feather bed is so popular that for the time being in Saint-JÃÆ' Â © rÃÆ'Â'me, Quebec, every dowry includes beds and pillows made of pigeon feathers. In 1822, a family in Chautauqua County, New York, killed 4,000 pigeons in a single day solely for this purpose.
Passenger pigeons are featured in many early significant naturalist writings, as well as accompanying illustrations. The illustration of Mark Catesby 1731, the first depiction of this bird, is rather harsh, according to some later commentators. The original watercolor made by the carving was purchased by the British royal family in 1768, along with other Catesby watercolors. Naturalists Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon both witnessed the migration of large pigeons directly, and published a detailed report in which both attempted to infer the total number of birds involved. The most famous and often reproduced description of the most famous and often reproduced passenger pigeon is the Audubon (handcolored aquatint) illustration in his book The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838. Audubon's image has been praised for his artistic quality, but criticized for his scientific inaccuracies. As Wallace Craig and RW Shufeldt (among others) point out, birds are shown to perch and bill one above the other, while they will do this side by side, men will be the only food that passes to the female, and the male tail will not spread. Craig and Shufeldt cite illustrations by American artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Japanese artist K. Hayashi as more accurate bird portrayals. Passenger pigeon illustrations are often taken after birds are filled, and Charles R. Knight is the only "serious" artist known to have pulled the species out of life. He did it at least twice; in 1903 he drew a possible bird in one of three birdcages with live birds, and sometime before 1914, he drew Martha, the last individual, at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Birds have been written about (included in poetry, song, and fiction) and illustrated by many famous writers and artists, and depicted in art to this day, for example in Walton Ford's 2002 Falling Bough paintings, and National winners Medal of Arts by John A. Ruthven 2014 in Cincinnati, which commemorates 100 years of Martha's death. The Centennial of extinction is used by the Project Passenger Pigeon outreach group to spread awareness about human-induced extinctions, and to recognize its relevance in the 21st century. It has been suggested that passenger pigeons can be used as a "flagship" species to spread awareness of other threatened birds, but less well known in North America.
Hunting
Passenger pigeons are an important source of food for the people of North America. The indigenous peoples eat pigeons, and the tribes near the nesting colonies will sometimes move to live closer to them and eat the children, killing them at night with long poles. Many Native Americans are careful not to disturb adult pigeons, and instead only eat children because they fear adults might leave their nesting grounds; in some tribes, disrupting adult pigeons is considered a crime. Away from the nest, large nets are used to catch adult pigeons, sometimes up to 800 at one time. Low flying pigeons can be killed by throwing sticks or stones. In one place in Oklahoma, the pigeons that leave their cages every morning fly low enough so that the Cherokee can throw the club into their midst, causing the dove to lead to try sideways and in the process of creating a blockade that produces a large mass of flying, easily crashing pigeons. Among game birds, passenger pigeons are second only to wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) in terms of interests for Native Americans living in the southeastern United States. Bird fats are stored, often in large quantities, and used as butter. Archaeological evidence supports the notion that Native Americans often eat pigeons before colonization.
What may be the earliest record of Europeans hunting passenger pigeons on January 1565, when the French explorer, Renà © à © LaudonniÃÆ'¨re wrote about the killing of nearly 10,000 of them around Fort Caroline in a matter of weeks:
There we found a huge manna of wood pigeons, which over a period of about seven weeks, every day we killed over two hundred with the arquebus in the forest around our fortress.
It amounted to about one passenger pigeon per day to everyone in the castle. After European colonization, passenger pigeons were hunted more intensively and with more sophisticated methods than more sustainable methods performed by indigenous people. It has also been suggested that rare species before 1492, and that the subsequent increase in their numbers may be due to a decrease in the Native American population (which, as well as hunting birds, compete with them for mast) is caused by European immigration, and additional food (crops) imported immigrants (a theory by which Joel Greenberg offers a detailed rebuttal in his book, A Feathered River Across the Sky). Passenger pigeons have special value at the border, and some settlements rely on their meat to support their populations. The flavor of the meat from passenger pigeons varies depending on how they are prepared. In general, adolescents are considered to have the best taste, followed by fattened poultry in captivity and birds captured in September and October. It is a common practice to fatten pigeons trapped before eating them or storing their bodies for the winter. Dead pigeons are generally stored by salting or picking bodies; at other times, only breast pigeons are stored, in which case they usually smoke. In the early 19th century, commercial hunters began to catch and shoot birds for sale as food in the city market, and even as pig feed. Once pigeon meat becomes popular, commercial hunting begins on an extraordinary scale.
Pigeon passengers were shot so easily that many did not consider them as game birds, as amateur hunters could easily drop six with one shotgun; a very good shot with both barrels of a rifle on a perch can kill 61 birds. The birds are often shot during flight or soon after, when they are usually perched on dead and open trees. Hunters should only shoot toward the sky aimlessly, and many pigeons will be dropped. Pigeons have proved difficult to shoot directly, so hunters usually wait for the herds to pass overhead before firing at them. The trenches were sometimes excavated and filled with wheat so that a hunter could shoot pigeons along the trench. Hunters are generally more numerous than trappers, and hunting pigeon passengers is a popular sport for young boys. In 1871, an ammunition seller provided three tons of powder and 16 tons (32,000 pounds) of shots during the buildup. In the second half of the 19th century, thousands of passenger pigeons were captured for use in the sport shooting industry. Pigeons are used as live targets in shooting tournaments, such as "trap-shoot", controlled release of birds from special traps. Competitions can also consist of people who stand on a regular basis, while trying to shoot as many birds as possible in passing flocks. Pigeons are thought to be so numerous that 30,000 birds must be killed to claim the prize in one competition.
There are various other methods used to catch and kill passenger pigeons. The net is propped up to allow the entry of the dove, then closed by tapping the stick that supports the opening, trapping twenty or more pigeons in it. Tunnel nets are also used very well, and very large nets are able to capture 3,500 pigeons at a time. These nets are used by many farmers in their own properties as well as by professional trappers. Food will be placed on the ground near the net to attract pigeons. Bait or "pigeon stool" (sometimes blinded with their eyelids stitched together) tied to a bench. When a group of pigeons passes by, a rope will be pulled which makes the feces pigeon expand to the ground, making it appear as if it has found food, and the flock will be brought into the trap. Salt is also often used as bait, and many traps are installed near salty springs. At least one trapper used granules soaked in alcohol as a bait for the intoxicating birds and made it easier to kill. Other fishing methods are hunting in colonies that lay eggs, especially for a few days after adult pigeons leave their nests, but before the nest can fly. Some hunters use
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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