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April 2010

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From:
"Hutson, Timothy B" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Hutson, Timothy B
Date:
Tue, 6 Apr 2010 15:03:05 -0400
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On a recent visit to the Columbus Grange Insurance Audubon Center I read a plaque on the center's wall of extinct birds that obviously referenced this kind of occurrence.  I had no idea they were so numerous.  The plaque states that at one time passenger pigeons accounted for something like 40% of the birds in the United States.  Amazing!
 
http://grange.audubon.org/

Another very interesting account from the Audubon site

http://www.audubon.org/bird/BoA/F29_G3a.html


Tim Hutson

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Gardner
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 10:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Birding in Columbus 155 years ago: "as suddenly as they came, they were gone."


A quick search o
A flock that size is a truly unimaginable spectacle. 

A quick search on the net shows that Ohio has at least three place names that refer to pigeons:

Pigeon Creek, northwest of Akron in Summit County.
Pigeon Ridge, northwest of Amsterdam in Carroll County.
Pigeon Run, southwest of Canton in Stark County.

There may well be others. All of these are in the northeastern quadrant of the state, and they don't correspond to the three places Bill's source mentioned. I was surprised not to find any in the unglaciated southeastern part of the state. 

Paul Gardner
Columbus, OH


--- On Tue, 4/6/10, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Birding in Columbus 155 years ago:  "as suddenly as they came, they were gone."
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 9:02 AM
>        This
> is part of an article that appeared in the Columbus
> Dispatch
> 4/9/1939, a recounting of the experience of "one of
> Columbus' most
> thrilling hours of history" by Wm. M. Fisher, citizen of
> this city:
> 
>        "It was a lazy spring day
> in 1855, and the quiet little town of
> Columbus, with its mud streets and clapboard houses still
> recalling the
> pioneer years, drowsed under a hot, midday sun. Only a few
> people were
> on the streets, and in front of a few downtown shops
> loungers sat and
> soaked up the welcome spring sunshine.
>        Suddenly heads were lifted.
> Horses, tied at hitchracks, fidgeted. Dogs
> got up from the dust, their tails drooping. A shopkeeper
> walked out of
> his store and looked up at the sky, searching its expanse,
> with a
> puzzled frown on his forehead.
>        A low-pitched hum was in
> the air. Everyone heard it. The noise--not
> unlike the sound of rapids in a distant river--grew louder.
> Far off in
> the southern horizon a cloud appeared, and even as the
> watchers stared,
> the hum increased to a mighty throbbing.
>        Now everyone was out of the
> houses and stores, looking apprehensively a
> the growing cloud, which was blotting out the rays of the
> sun. Children
> screamed and ran for home. Women gathered their long skirts
> and hurried
> for the shelter of stores. Horses bolted. A few people
> mumbled
> frightened words about the approach of the millennium, and
> several
> dropped on their knees and prayed.
>        Suddenly a great cry arose
> from the south end of High Street.
> "It's the passenger pigeons! It's the pigeons! Get your
> guns!"
>        And then the dark cloud was
> over the city, and the citizens were seeing
> one of the wonders of that age--a flight of passenger
> pigeons.
> Millions--incalculable millions--of the birds were flying
> overhead. Day
> was turned to dark. The thunder of wings made shouting
> necessary for
> human communication. The breadth of the flock was unknown;
> its height
> was that of a two-story building; its speed approximated 60
> miles an
> hour--and for one hour and thirty minutes there was no end
> to the mighty
> stream of feathered travelers.
>        In that time Columbus
> citizens underwent a mild sort of madness.
> Guns boomed continuously from all parts of the city;
> thousands of
> pigeons hurtled to the ground with buckshot in their soft
> bodies. Boys
> aimed their slingshots in the general direction of the
> flying horde and
> every shot brought down a bird. Boys and grown men threw
> stones; men
> stood on roofs with long poles and batted birds in frenzied
> abandon.
> Where one pigeon fell, another took its place in the broad
> stream--there
> was no ceasing of the flow of birds nor of the noise of
> their wings.
>        Then, as suddenly as they
> came, they were gone. The hunters sat down,
> blinded by the brightened sky and breathing heavily from
> their
> exertions. The ground and buildings were white with the
> flock's
> droppings; the town was littered with the bodies of tens of
> thousands of
> birds.
>        ...They are passing, and
> soon perhaps none will be left. If God could
> have created a more beautiful bird or animal, he would done
> so--but of
> them all the passenger pigeon was the most beautiful. The
> multitude
> pouring across the heavens like blue meteors, their cooing
> sounding like
> a mighty organ, the noise of their wings an awesome
> thunder, will never
> again be seen by mortal eyes."
> 
>        When this flock appeared
> over the Columbus, its end was probably on the
> other side of the Ohio in Kentucky. The article goes on to
> say, among
> much else, that there were three important roosts in Ohio,
> one near
> Kenton, one at Buckeye Lake, and the third not far from
> there in Bloody
> Run Swamp a mile east of Kirkersville. In spring the birds
> would head to
> these roosts and stay for several weeks before moving north
> or east.
> Bill Whan
> Columbus
> 
> 
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______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
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Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

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