The Largest Nesting of Passenger Pigeons
- Date Range
- 1871 – 1871
- Title
- The Largest Nesting of Passenger Pigeons
- What occurred
- In 1871, the largest nesting of Passenger Pigeons ever recorded in the United States took place in central Wisconsin. An estimated 136 million pigeons gathered over a 850-square-mile area. It was reported that there were so many in the trees-- sometimes 100 nests in one tree-- that entire trees would collapse due to the weight. Pigeon hunters would storm breeding grounds and cut down trees in order to capture the birds. In 1947, a monument celebrating the Passenger Pigeon was erected in Wisconsin's Wyalusing State Park. The monument's plaque reads "This species became extinct through the avarice and thoughtlessness of man." Aldo Leopold spoke at its dedication, saying "We have erected a monument to commemorate the funeral of a species. It symbolizes our sorrow. We grieve because no living man will see again the onrushing phalanx of victorious birds, sweeping a path for spring across the March skies, chasing the defeated winter from all the woods and prairies of Wisconsin. Men still live who, in their youth, remember pigeons. Trees still live who, in their youth, were shaken by a living wind. But a decade hence only the oldest oaks will remember, and at long last only the hills will know."
- Location
- 13081 State Park Ln, Bagley, WI 53801
- Image Citation
- http://passengerpigeon.org/states/Wisconsin.html https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS366 https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM34683
- Student name(s)
- Hailey Stoltenberg