As I look at endangered and threatened birds in Utah, I realize I need to start with a bird that is now extinct, but once flew over Utah skies in unbelievable numbers, as it did across much of the States and around the world: the passenger pigeon. Estimates of their population in the early 19th century are as high as five billion, and dense flocks a mile wide and two miles long took hours to pass; in 1914, the last passenger pigeon in the world, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo. Their sudden decline and ultimate extinction, witnessed in real time, was the start of a widespread concern with bird populations. This piece is based on a photograph of preserved specimens at the Field Museum of Natural HIstory in Chicago, photograph by Marc Schlossman. And the colors are inspired by Audobon’s portrait of the tragic birds.
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