Author Joel Greenberg on the Passenger Pigeon: “They’re gone because we destroyed them. We systematically, unrelentingly killed them.”
Connecticut Audubon President Alexander Brash, left, on stage with author Joel Greenberg
By Liz Acas for Connecticut Audubon Society
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The extinction of the once-abundant Passenger Pigeon shows that any species could be in danger today, author Joel Greenberg told a rapt audience at Yale University on March 12.
Greenberg, author of the acclaimed book A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction, described the fall of the species that went from the most common in North America during the 19th century to complete decimation by 1914. His lecture, presented by Connecticut Audubon Society and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, marked the 100th anniversary of the birds’ demise. About 150 people packed Yale’s Kroon Hall for the event.
In a talk that covered the bird’s destruction, its legacy, and the lessons for us today, Greenberg said it’s no mystery why the birds disappeared and that humans are to blame.
“They’re gone because we destroyed them,” he said. “We systematically, unrelentingly killed them.”
Passenger Pigeons, Greenberg noted, were “unlike any other birds that humans have ever known.” This was largely due to their sheer abundance. Alexander Wilson, the father of American ornithology, counted their population at 2 billion. But even beyond their numbers, they inspired a kind of wonder that few other creatures do.
“Early naturalists were amazed by what they saw,” he said.
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