Horicon Birds home page Contact HoriconBirds.com Are you a lost birdie? Horicon Marsh information Bird watchers report it! Passenger pigeon sightings Where can I find some of these prints locally?: Sponsors VeggieCooking.com The classic vegan cookbook by Pam Rotella! Birding for Passenger Pigeons by Pam Rotella 24 August 2015, last updated 8 August 2018 HoriconBirds.com Tweet Follow @PamRotella NOTE: If you believe you've seen a living passenger pigeon, please submit that sighting to HoriconBirds.com via the form included on the Contact page. If you give permission to post your sighting, it will appear on the Sightings page. Although most biologists believe they are completely extinct, a few of us think we've seen living passenger pigeons. I believe that if more birders were prepared for seeing passenger pigeons in the field, the number of sightings would rise. With historical accounts, museum specimens, and limited experience from my own sightings and those e-mailed to me, I'll try to put together a guide for those hoping to find a living passenger pigeon. 1.) Be open to it, but don't expect it. I'm convinced that a few passenger pigeons are still alive -- I've seen them with my own eyes, and several other people who've e-mailed me have seen them, too. President Teddy Roosevelt himself saw a flock of living passenger pigeons near Charlottesville, Virginia after they had supposedly gone extinct. I think the first step in seeing a passenger pigeon is to be open to it. If you happen to see a bird that looks like a passenger pigeon, isn't it possible that the bird is in fact a living passenger pigeon? You can walk away thinking that there must be some other explanation because people have prejudiced your mind, or you can be thankful that you found one... and try to get its picture, followed by reporting the sighting to HoriconBirds.com! With that said, If passenger pigeons aren't quite extinct, they are incredibly rare. And so while it's good to be open to seeing one, don't expect it. Be thankful if you're that lucky. One reader also heard a passenger pigeon, an experience that seems to be even rarer. If you do see a passenger pigeon, there's a good chance that you'll never see it again. Passenger pigeons are known for traveling nearly constantly, a strategy that helped them to evade predators until the telegraph assisted pigeon hunters in locating them. On the bright side, that traveling habit (if it remains in the culture of the few survivors) means that there are many chances for people all over the country to see one of the few living birds. But it also means that most of the time, they'll only be in your area for a few days before leaving. The one time they may stay in an area longer is during breeding season, if they're successful in finding a mate. 2.) Know what a passenger pigeon looks like If you'd rather know that your sighting is rarer than winning the lottery while you're still in the field, and that it's a good idea to get a picture, then it's good to know what passenger pigeons look like before you go birding. Not many birding field guides include passenger pigeons these days, but thanks to the internet, you can see an abundance of old pictures and drawings online before going into the field. Because the birds are so rare and officially extinct, I'll have to use photos of taxidermied birds from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to show their features here. NOTE: The taxidermied photos have not yet been adjusted for exposure or other details. I'll eventually update this page with clearer versions of the photos. The first photo below is a screen shot from the Smithsonian's YouTube channel. The female shown here is actually "Martha," known as the last living passenger pigeon, originally from Green Lake County, Wisconsin. Supposedly when Martha died, the species officially went extinct. She was taxidermied and displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (I was told by staff on site that she wasn't on display on the day I visited in 2017, and so I wasn't able to photograph her personally. However via e-mail, another staff member there told me weeks later that she had been on display at the time. I may try to find her another day, when I'm back in town.) The male shown with her is "George," a male passenger pigeon she was paired with in captivity, an attempt to breed captive birds that failed. Martha and George were named after President George Washington and his wife, Martha. These taxidermied birds show that the males have gray or brownish gray backs. Some reports describe the color as slate blue. My first sighting was of a very gray bird in direct sunlight with a breast as red as a robin's. The male here has an orange or reddish tummy, which is consistent with my own sightings, though photos online of other taxidermied birds and reports I've received indicate a variety of reddish hues on the underside of males. Female passenger pigeons are brown birds that resemble mourning doves, and it may be difficult to differentiate the two species without knowing other features of the pigeons. Screen shot of YouTube video from the Smithsonian channel, showing "Martha" and "George." Martha was allegedly the last living passenger pigeon. The next photo shows a different pair of passenger pigeons from the "Birds of DC" display at the Smithsonian's natural history museum. These birds appear to be larger than George and Martha, and are more consistent with my own sightings. At minimum passenger pigeons are longer than mourning doves, but in person are often larger all-around, very muscular birds built for frequent long-distance flight. Another interesting feature of these taxidermied birds is that the taxidermist partially spread the female's tail fan. The tail fan on passenger pigeons is noticeably different from mourning doves' when deployed. Taxidermied male and female passenger pigeons at the "Birds of DC" display, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC. Photo by Pam Rotella. Note the large orange or reddish underside of the male passenger pigeon in the photo below, which is often just as red as a robin's breast, easily differentiated from the brown or brownish underside of both male and female mourning doves. Passenger pigeons' feet are red or reddish, although mourning doves and pigeons also have pink or red feet that are sometimes exactly the same color as passenger pigeons'. A closer side and partial underside view of the passenger pigeons. The male's breast is similar in color to a robin's. In the photo below, the female passenger pigeon's underside shows various shades of light brown with some gray, white, and black markings. While the underside of the tail fan shows a few areas with gray-brown hues, the fan is mostly white, and notably the black banding seen in mourning doves' tail fans is completely absent. A closer side and underside view of the female passenger pigeon. The next photo shows a view of the female's tail fan from the front of the bird. Notice that it looks completely white. The tail fan here is only slightly deployed, but from my own sightings the tail fan can flare out quite a lot under the bird, where in flight it looks as though they're dragging a white circle and then some. Old accounts have described this as "heart-shaped." I haven't seen a taxidermied passenger pigeon so far with the tail fan spread to its limits, but if you happen to see a tail fan deployed on a bird in-person, a white or mostly white fan as seen from the underside, and possibly long or large fan can further confirm that you've seen a living passenger pigeon. A close view of the female's partially open tail fan In my final picture of the "Birds of DC" passenger pigeons, a good view of the male's underside again shows his reddish tummy, but this photo is also large enough to show the passenger pigeon's bill, which is not black and pink like a mourning dove's. Rather it is usually yellow or yellow mixed with other colors like gray or black, and again larger than a mourning dove's. While these are taxidermied birds, the Smithsonian gave them historically accurate eye color -- passenger pigeons were described as having red eyes. The photo of the female here shows a gray color to the back of her tail fan, and the part of her back not covered by wings. It also shows how large and long the birds' tail fans can be, even when only slightly deployed. Also note the two longer feathers in the center of the fan that are often shown in old drawings. From my own experience this is the part that "keeps going" beyond the "circle," but the fact is that birds don't always use their tail fan at all, and sometimes it's only partially deployed, so you may not have the opportunity to confirm the species by observing tail fan characteristics. If you are lucky enough to see a tail fan deployed, however, a larger and lighter fan than a mourning dove's with no black banding should suffice to verify that the bird is not a mourning dove and could be a passenger pigeon. A view of the male passenger pigeon's underside and the female's back. You can also Google "passenger pigeon" and then click the "More Images" link in the little collage of pictures that Google presents off to the side. Your web browser should fill with dozens of pictures and drawings of passenger pigeons. Next, some photos for comparison to mourning doves and other pigeons... 3.) Take the time to look at "mourning doves"! When I first saw a living passenger pigeon, I initially thought it was a very large mourning dove because it had a similar outline in my peripheral vision. I think the most important point to take from this section is that if you want to see a passenger pigeon, pay extra attention to mourning doves in general. If you see a mourning dove off to the side somewhere, and don't bother to look directly at it, you may miss the rarest bird of your life. Most people who've sent me passenger pigeon sightings also first thought they were seeing a mourning dove. Passenger pigeons look similar enough to mourning doves to describe them by comparison. But don't expect to notice all of the differences when you first see a passenger pigeon. You may notice the size and color difference, especially the male's red tummy, and perhaps a couple of other characteristics, unless you're lucky enough to take a good picture that you can scrutinize later. First, for reference and comparison, below is a classic mourning dove photograph. I saw this bird in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he was displaying his tail fan for me, which is why I thought the photo was special enough to sell online. This is a good photo showing the black banding on the underside of mourning dove's tail fans, and the bird is showing how far mourning doves can spread their fans. Passenger pigeons' fans are even longer and larger than this. Notice this dove's tan color, light blue eye rings, black eyes, black and pink beak, pretty pink feet, dove-like posture leaning forward, and his wide lower tummy. This is a normal, healthy-looking mourning dove. Mourning dove displays his tail fan at Richard Bong State Recreation Area, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 20 June 2009. Photo by Pam Rotella. Starting with the bird above and your own mourning dove pictures and sightings, these are the most obvious ways that passenger pigeons differ from mourning doves: a.) Passenger pigeons are larger than mourning doves, if you have a way of estimating the birds' size by comparison to nearby objects or other birds. b.) Passenger pigeons are very athletic and tend to have their weight distributed more toward their breast, which is very large, while their lower tummies are narrower. Mourning doves typically (although not always) have a shape with a more consistent width from their breast to lower tummies. c.) Passenger pigeon posture is usually upright, while mourning doves usually lean forward like doves in general, although sometimes mourning doves perch in the same manner as passenger pigeons. d.) Male passenger pigeons have an orange or red breast, while females typically have a light brown breast, although I've seen photos and drawings that show females with a lighter orange or yellowish breast. My experience is that the male's breast can be a beautiful shade of red, as dark as a robin's, that draws your attention in bright sunlight. Mourning doves tend to have a tan or light brown breast, sometimes with a slight variation like a yellow, grayish, or rosy tint. e.) Passenger pigeons have a gray back with some darker and lighter markings, although exact shade and markings on the back and wings may vary. Mourning doves typically have a tan or brown back that's slightly darker than their bellies, with dark markings. A few have a darker shade of brown or grayish brown back. f.) Passenger pigeons have red eyes, while mourning doves' eyes are black. g.) Passenger pigeons have feet described as "clear lake red" in color, although mourning doves also have dark pink or reddish feet. h.) Passenger pigeons have some beak color variation, usually yellow with sometimes gray or black mixed in, but in general the head and beak looks much like other pigeons' and mourning doves'. Mourning dove bills are smaller and black with some pink near the head. i.) Passenger pigeons do not sound like mourning doves. One reader who sent in a sighting from Iowa said that the bird croaked like a tree frog, and they can make that and several other sounds, apparently most often a "chattering" sound. The Nebraska Bird Library describes passenger pigeon calls as "Coos along with loud croaking, chattering, and clucking noises." Mourning doves have a very distinctive and enchanting owl-like "coo" song which is different from pigeons, with a shortened version of their call when excited or warning other birds. As far as I know, mourning doves and passenger pigeons have no songs or calls in common. j.) Mourning doves have rings around their eyes that are usually light blue in color, although only some photos have a high enough resolution for the eye rings to be visible. Usually the lighting and resolution must be good to capture that trait in a photograph. Passenger pigeons also may have eye rings, although only some old drawings and photos of taxidermied birds show them. I'm not yet sure of the color. It may have been dark red like the eyes, white, gold, yellow, or bare. k.) Passenger pigeons were known for having long and mostly white undersides to their tail fans. Their tail fans were described as "heart-shaped" with two longer feathers in the center. Mourning doves have rounded fans with the black and white banding seen in many bird species. Passenger pigeons' tail fans, like the birds themselves, are larger and longer than mourning doves', but in my experience it's rare for any bird species to deploy their full fans completely, other than while flirting, reducing air speed for a landing, trying to maintain a low flight speed, or performing mid-air acrobatics. You'd be quite lucky to see a tail fan open far enough or long enough to identify a passenger pigeons this way. l.) Natural variation makes some mourning doves more similar to passenger pigeons than others. m.) Passenger pigeons had a reputation for excellent eye sight and flight skills. They had the habit of traveling from place to place every few days, other than during breeding season when they'd stay long enough to nest and raise a single chick. n.) Passenger pigeons' favorite food was acorns from the white oak, but the birds ate a variety of other types of nuts, seeds, berries, worms, and insects in season. Mourning doves are primarily seed-eaters, although they occasionally eat insects. One extra thing to consider is the natural variety of Wisconsin's mourning doves, which may cause you to write off your own sighting as a natural variety of mourning doves, as I did with my second sighting during 2015. Notice that the photo below was taken soon after my first passenger pigeon sighting. That's because I wanted to document different varieties of mourning doves found in Wisconsin to show how some of them are very similar to passenger pigeons. These doves caught my attention because of two things -- their posture and thin lower bellies. Yet despite a stance and shape similar to passenger pigeons, clearly they are mourning doves with tan breasts and dark eyes. Perhaps they were undernourished, or more likely a natural variety of mourning doves with an athletic build. Mourning doves on a power line in Wisconsin, 24 August 2014. Photo by Pam Rotella. Also notice the birds' feet. An old Smithsonian article described passenger pigeon feet as "a clear lake red" (googling "red lake pigment" will bring up some google images of the color). While the mourning dove pictured previously also has very pretty dark pink feet which are similar in color, the two mourning doves shown here definitely have a darker and clearer color to them. The mourning dove feet I see are usually slightly thicker than this, with white wrinkles that make the feet appear to be dark pink instead of red. Thinner, less-weathered feet make sense for passenger pigeons because they spend much of their time in the air. The next photo, below, shows mourning doves with backs that are a darker grayish brown color and much darker than their heads, which is unusual for mourning doves (although the drab color may have been due to lighting conditions). This is a normal variety of mourning doves in Wisconsin, and although their backs have a grayish hue to them, these birds have the typical mourning dove posture, leaning forward. Mourning dove variety seen in Wisconsin, 24 August 2014, Photo by Pam Rotella. Another mourning dove, pictured below, has a color variation that's somewhat in the direction of a male passenger pigeon. Notice its slightly rosy breast and grayish back of the head and neck. This coloring is not due to any special lighting conditions, as the sky was blue and the sun was bright white. Even so, this bird's coloring isn't even 10% of that of a male passenger pigeon. Its posture is also that of a mourning dove, as is the black color of its eyes, beautiful blue eye rings, black and pink beak, and all other features that I can see. Mourning dove color variety seen in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 6 September 2015. Notice the slightly rosy breast and grayish back of the head and heck. Photo by Pam Rotella. Finally, the photo below depicts regular city pigeons, sometimes called "Feral Pigeons" or urban pigeons. They are not similar to mourning doves or passenger pigeons, and so while watching and photographing them may be as fun as any other birding activity, paying extra attention to city pigeons probably won't help in finding a passenger pigeon. Urban pigeons found on a path to the rapids of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, 13 June 2015. Photo by Pam Rotella. 4.) Location is important... maybe Passenger pigeons were known to roost and nest in trees, and their favorite food was acorns. They're basically woodland birds. But that doesn't mean you'll see them in wooded areas. My first two sightings were on power lines along rural roads, although forests were nearby. And while they may prefer acorns, they were known to eat a variety of nuts, seeds, grains, and insects. Although it seems more likely that we'd find them near a forest, you never know where your daily activities will intersect with theirs. There's also the issue of their natural range. While I'd suspect that most sightings will be within their old range of the east coast to midwest of North America, surviving birds may travel out of that range in search of a mate or more suitable environment. Birds in general are known to travel outside of their migratory range at times, especially when resources are thin. Also, climate change may push them farther north as the environment changes, as with many other species. 5.) Don't doubt what you saw Yes, we've all heard the stories that passenger pigeons are extinct now. All scientists are aware of every bird in every tree, and none of them are passenger pigeons, or so we're told. But once you've seen a living passenger pigeon, is information on their "extinction" helpful, or just another "don't believe your own eyes" thing? In the legal profession, it's called witness tampering. If you saw a bird that looks like a passenger pigeon, then that's what you saw. Maybe you don't want to say it was a passenger pigeon, but you can specify the individual details that you did see -- perhaps a red breast, gray back, pigeon's head and beak, with a larger size than other pigeons and doves you'd seen in the past. The facts are the facts. You saw what you saw. If you doubt yourself for reasons other than the drumbeat of passenger pigeons being extinct, then you can detail those facts in your sighting. Maybe the lighting wasn't the best. Maybe the birds were far away. Maybe you had no way of estimating their size. You can include those details in your sightings report, but the standard for reporting your sighting is only that the bird looked like it could be a passenger pigeon. Until a bird presents itself to a photographer with a good camera, and stays around long enough to be noticed and photographed, we have to rely on regular field sightings, with all usual problems. Or maybe there's nothing in reality that caused you to doubt what you saw. Which brings me to the most important part of a passenger pigeon sighting -- a willingness to share your sighting with others. Updates: 1.) On 10 September 2015, the photo and description of the mourning dove in Fort Wayne, Indiana was added, along with its caption and one-paragraph description. 2.) On 8 August 2018, photos of taxidermied passenger pigeons from the Smithsonian were added. All original content including photographs © 2015, 2017, and 2018 by Pam Rotella.