Martha Week: Passenger Pigeon Books

Monday, September 1st will mark the 100 year anniversary of the death of Martha, the last of her species, the Passenger Pigeon. With her death our planet lost another species forever to extinction. This week we'd like to share some of the commemorative events and educational opportunities that are taking place to mark this important centenary.

There's no shortage of books written about Passenger Pigeons. Their journey from incredible abundance to shocking extinction is well-known. Here are just a few titles relating to Martha and her species.

This book about the Passenger Pigeon, the first new major work about the species in over 50 years, was published earlier in 2014. A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction by Joel Greenberg tells the epic story behind the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon while drawing ties to our current relationship with the natural world.
The Passenger Pigeon by W. B. Mershon was first published in 1907. Unlike modern works, here the author gives a first-hand account of interacting with the species, its decimation at the hand of man, and its apparent impending loss.
The Passenger Pigeon by Errol Fuller is another title being released in this anniversary year. Fuller has experience writing about extinct species; he has authored books about the Dodo, the Great Auk, and other Lost Animals.
The Silent Sky: The Incredible Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, first published in 1965, tells the extinction story in readable novel form. The book follows the life and death of the last known wild Passenger Pigeon.

Comments

Spurwing Plover on May 21, 2022 at 7:28 AM wrote:
Martha gone but not forgoten

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