Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon
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source: http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...
The passenger pigeon was, for a long time, the most common bird in North America. It comprised as many as two out of every five birds found on the continent. James estimates that 6 billion of them may have been alive at the species' peak. They flew in flocks by the hundreds of millions, if not billions—such a tremendous number, in fact, that 19th-century witnesses reported they would blot out the sun for hours at a time.
The passenger pigeon was, for a long time, the most common bird in North America. It comprised as many as two out of every five birds found on the continent. James estimates that 6 billion of them may have been alive at the species' peak. They flew in flocks by the hundreds of millions, if not billions—such a tremendous number, in fact, that 19th-century witnesses reported they would blot out the sun for hours at a time.