Bob and Charles tackle one of the hardest subjects that Nature Guys has ever undertaken. In part 1 of Passenger Pigeon they go back in time to experience what this bird was like and how humans managed to wipe out this bird. Part 2 covers what we have learned and not learned from the Passenger Pigeon.
Related episodes: Passenger Pigeon Part 1, The Nature of Oaks with Doug Tallamy
For more information, we recommend these books:
- Wild New World The Epic Story of Animals and People in America by Dan Flores (Bob’s pick)
- Man and Nature by George Perkins Marsh (Charles’s pick)
Here are books Charles read; the links are to a non-profit website (www.bookshop.org). If you buy these books through the links below it gives Charles’s blog credit which does him a lot of good!
- Silent Wings: A Memorial to the Passenger Pigeon (Edited by Wlater Edwin Scott)
- The Passenger Pigeon by Errol Fuller
- The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction by W.A. Schorger
- A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction By Joel Greenberg
Here are links to the relevant posts on Charles’s blog called Gulo in Nature:

Great and important topic! Thank you!
I just love this podcast, Bob you are the kindest nature lover
Even though i live in the northwest on the border of British Columbia and Washington
I anticipate a new episode to listen too.
Very inspiring podcast
Thanks for the encouraging words! I am thrilled that you used the word kind to describe me! It is something I aspire to be in my life. I have visited your area and it is a very special place!
Wow! You two out did yourselves on this topic. Truly inspiring.Thank you for all of the time & research you delved into.
Glad you were inspired!
THX. WELLDONE YOU ALLUDED TO THE PIGEON DECLINE CONSEQUENCE AS CAUSING AN INCREASE IN LYME’S DISEASE BY INCREASING THE RED OAK FOOD FRUIT AVAILABLE TO THE
HOST ANIMAL FROM WHICH THE TICK GETS THE DISEASE. I HAD A RESEARCH FRIEND WHO WAS TRYING TO IDENTIFY THE HOST BY EXAMINING TICK DNA. CAN YOU TELL ME THE IDENTITY OF THE HOST AS I WAS NOT AWARE THAT IT HAD BEEN IDENTIFIED?
ON A POSITIVE NOTE YOU MIGHT CONSIDER THE GREAT SUCCESS THE CONSERVATION AGENCIES HAVE HAD IN RESTORING THE WILD TURKEY BEFORE IT TOO ALMOST BECAME
EXTINCT. MO. MAINTAINS A CONSTANT FLOCK ESTIMATED AT 500K AND HUNTERS REPORTED
ANNUAL HARVEST OF 150-200K THE LAST TIME I SAW THE NUMBERS.
Glad you liked the series! I am not aware of the host. It is great that we have had success stories like the wild turkey.