an itinerant observer

John James Audubon, the famous ornithologist, first noticed the migrating pigeons in 1813, then estimated to be as many as five billion in the United States. On March the 14 th , 1900, a towheaded boy of 10 proud of his new rifle shot and killed the last male Passenger Pigeon while it ate its last meal as any condemned prisoner. The last authenticated female Passenger Pigeon named “Martha” lived an ordinary life. She lived for twenty-nine years in captivity eating, drinking, sleeping and perching, perhaps listening for the beckoning call of a mate that would never come. On September the 1 st , 1914, while sitting on her naked branch, her head slumped, her body quivered and unbeknownst, fell to the floor lifeless. She was never to know the closeness of mating, raising squabs, or the joy of togetherness in flight. The support of multitudinous wings fanning the winds around her was forever denied, a sensation only the flock can offer. Captivity deprived her of experiencing her true nat...