Price 1

what meanings do we give to nature

Passenger pigeon: billions of birds in the 1870s to dozens in the 1890s
what happened?

• harvesting of large numbers for food
• the ecological strategy of the bird involved nesting in large groups
• deforestation removed prime nesting sites

extinction of the passenger pigeon became a symbol that nature is not limitless

What were people thinking?

• pigeons came to any area irregularly, and when they came it was a bonanza
• not just a resource but a cause for celebration and a social affair
  
• hunting was a sport and a symbol of freedom and American natural bounty

The Seneca Indians in upstate New York

• killed only young birds
• watched for the annual return of the pigeons
• had more knowledge of the patterns the pigeons followed
• important annual social event

the birds were depleted on the east coast by the 1750s and as transportation to market allowed, large scale hunting moved to the upper midwest

• this was more of a business with market hunters following the flocks
• farmers were looking for opportunities because their previous crops no longer did well
• pigeons were a source of cash to save their farms
• what made all this possible was transportation to distant markets
  
• consumers?  the sport of shooting birds released from a trap had become popular, and pigeons were challenging targets
  
• the new elite restaurants featured game, including pigeons, but diners didn't know where the pigeons came from
  

As the pigeon population declined

• trap shooters substituted clay targets
• market hunters moved on to curlew and plover
• farmers and sportsmen blamed the market hunters
  
• hunting became an upper class pastime

Once pigeons were extinct they became a modern-day parable

we use nature to tell our own morality stories