Practically the definition of “extinct,” but . . . maybe not forever?
The Artdog Image of Interest: Image 4 of a series of four by John James Audubon Passenger Pigeon (Columba Migratoria), 1838, by John James Audubon. Note the scientific name is now Ectopistes migratorius. The demise of the Passenger Pigeon is one of the most extensively-documented extinctions I’ve ever seen. All three of the other bird species I’ve highlighted in this series are carefully listed as “Extinct or Critically Endangered.” Not the Passenger Pigeon. We know to the day–and possibly to the hour–when the last Passenger Pigeon, a female named…