. Birds in Kansas. Birds -- Kansas Identification. DOVES 315. Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius (Linnaeus) Status: EXTINCT. The Passenger Pigeon was formerly an uncom- mon or irregular transient and an occasional or local breeder. Period of Occurrence: The species was reported from the middle of March through "; Breeding: The only nesting report for Kansas was made by Goss (1886), who stated that "a few to my knowledge breed occasionally in the Neosho Valley . .. about the middle of ; As Kansas was at the periphery of the bird's range, nesting probably wa
. Birds in Kansas. Birds -- Kansas Identification. DOVES 315. Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius (Linnaeus) Status: EXTINCT. The Passenger Pigeon was formerly an uncom- mon or irregular transient and an occasional or local breeder. Period of Occurrence: The species was reported from the middle of March through "; Breeding: The only nesting report for Kansas was made by Goss (1886), who stated that "a few to my knowledge breed occasionally in the Neosho Valley . .. about the middle of ; As Kansas was at the periphery of the bird's range, nesting probably was by small groups. The nest was a loose platform of twigs, and a single glossy white egg was laid. Incubation and fledging each took about two weeks, with both parents incubating and rearing the young. Habits and Habitat: There are few firsthand accounts of the Passenger Pigeon in Kansas, and only three specimens remain (taken by Goss near Neosho Falls, Woodson County, 14 April 1876). Birds were extremely gregarious, and they migrated, fed, roosted, and nested in huge flocks numbering as many as one to three billion birds, accord- ing to estimates by early ornithologists. Movements were irregular, and nesting areas changed frequently, probably in response to a shifting food supply. The largest nesting colonies, which contained millions of birds, were in the vast forests of beech, oak, and maple of the Great Lakes states. A nesting in Wisconsin in 1871 covered hun- dreds of square miles and may have included most of the pigeons nesting in North America that year (Schorger 1955). In less extensive habitat (as presumably in Kansas), birds nested as isolated pairs or in small groups. Destruction of the Passenger Pigeon, especially in the breeding colonies, was relentless and on a scale difficult to imagine today. During a great nesting in Michigan in 1878, an estimated 1,500,000 carcasses and 80,000 live birds were shipped out by rail alone! The gradual decline, noted by 1851, acce
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