Family/Sub-family Columbidae

Species name author (Linnaeus, 1766)

Taxonomic source(s) AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Brooks (2000), Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Summary Ectopistes migratorius was found forest in eastern and central Canada and the USA, occasionally wandering south to Mexico and Cuba⁴. Over the 19th century, the species crashed from being one of the most abundant birds in the world to extinction⁴. The last wild bird was shot in 1900, and the last captive bird died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo⁵.

Ecology: It was a nomadic species, breeding and foraging in vast flocks millions of birds strong. It exploited seasonally available crops of beechmast, acorns and chestnuts; scouting for food sources and infomation sharing was likely to have required flocks of a certain critical size, below which survival would be compromised. Birds nested in April or May in vast colonies typically 16 by 5 km in size.

Threats The precise cause of its extinction is difficult to determine, but the widespread clearance of the hardwood trees which provided its mast food, and the proliferation of the rail network and telegraph system which enabled efficient location of nesting colonies and the transport of young birds to market are probably the two single most important factors. Other important factors were excessive shooting, Newcastle disease, and towards the last of their years, the breakdown of social facilitation^1,2,3.

References 1. Blockstein and Tordoff (1985). 2. Bucher (1992). 3. Halliday (1980). 4. Schorger (1955). 5. Wilcove (1989).

Text account compilers Tom Brooks (Conservation International), Simon Mahood (BirdLife International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Tom Brooks (Conservation International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Alison Stattersfield (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Ectopistes migratorius. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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