Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Remembering Martha: The Last Passenger Pigeon
Martha's death marked the extinction of a species.
In the early 1800s, the Passenger Pigeon was one of the most abundant bird species in North America — possibly the world. But by 1910, the last surviving representative of the species was a bird called Martha at the Cincinnati Zoo. Despite attempts to revive the species through captive breeding programs, Martha outlived several unsuccessful suitors before succumbing to old age on September 1, 1914. Though today is a somber anniversary in the history of conservation, there’s no better time than now to take action to protect birds.
BirdNote®
Remembering Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon
By Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
[The Lark Ascending, performed by Jack Liebeck and VOCES8]
In the early 1800s, the Passenger Pigeon was one of the most abundant bird species in North America — possibly the world. A single flock, more than a billion strong and miles long, could darken the skies for hours!
But by 1910, the last surviving representative of the species was a bird called Martha. She was named after first lady Martha Washington, and spent much of her life at the Cincinnati Zoo as part of a captive breeding program.
In the wild, Passenger Pigeons amassed gigantic breeding colonies in deciduous forests, preferably packed with their favored beech nuts and acorns. Naturalists from that period wrote that a single tree might host 90 nests — or more!
Research suggests that the number of Passenger Pigeons fluctuated dramatically with the availability of food and forests. But with added pressure from habitat destruction and commercial hunting — including the harvest of breeding birds and their chicks — their populations couldn’t recover.
After outliving several unsuccessful suitors, Martha became a beloved celebrity at the zoo in her final years. On September 1, 1914, Martha passed away and the Passenger Pigeon was officially extinct.
Though today is a somber anniversary, there’s no better time than now to step up for conservation. Learn more about what you can do to protect birds at our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Ariana Remmel.
###
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
© 2025 BirdNote September 2025
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# PAPI-03-2025-09-01 PAPI-03
Reference:
https://archive.org/details/wilsonsamericano00wils/page/398/mode/2up
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1401526111
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/passenger_pigeon/
https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/vertebrate-zoology/birds/collections-overview/martha-last-passenger-pigeon
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/paspig/cur/introduction
