Comments on: Ann Arbor Rendezvous http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/ Birds and birding with Joel Greenberg Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:20:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Joel http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/comment-page-1/#comment-1059 Joel Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:15:09 +0000 http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/?p=393#comment-1059 Thank you fo ryour comment. The died out because of unrelenting exploitation: once numbers had been reduced to a certain level other factors might have played a part. Careful evaluation by Schorger, Mitchell, and ohters make it clear- to me at least- that the birds vanished well before their forage base. Genetic studies are being planned that will look at the possible role of disease, a factor for which their is no evidence in the historical record. Thank you fo ryour comment. The died out because of unrelenting exploitation: once numbers had been reduced to a certain level other factors might have played a part. Careful evaluation by Schorger, Mitchell, and ohters make it clear- to me at least- that the birds vanished well before their forage base. Genetic studies are being planned that will look at the possible role of disease, a factor for which their is no evidence in the historical record.

]]> By: martin sands http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/comment-page-1/#comment-1056 martin sands Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:12:53 +0000 http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/?p=393#comment-1056 I have mershons books my 50 years of hunting and the passenger pigeon. It is a myth that most of the birds were shot and that hunters destroyed them.yes they hunted them but most of the birds were not shot they were taken from nests as squabs and the main reason they disapeared was from the deforestation of the nut trees they lived on. thats is why you will never see a picture with wagons of pigeons like you see ducks geese deer and other animals. I have mershons books my 50 years of hunting and the passenger pigeon. It is a myth that most of the birds were shot and that hunters destroyed them.yes they hunted them but most of the birds were not shot they were taken from nests as squabs and the main reason they disapeared was from the deforestation of the nut trees they lived on. thats is why you will never see a picture with wagons of pigeons like you see ducks geese deer and other animals.

]]> By: Joel http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/comment-page-1/#comment-982 Joel Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:13:18 +0000 http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/?p=393#comment-982 Rosa, Thanks for your comments. You might be interested in Project Passenger Pigeon (www.passengerpigeon.org). I would be happy to talk to you if you wanted more information. And please share with me what you write. The photos of the dead birds hanging from Mershon's railroad car are of waterfowl: cranes, ducks, and geese. There appears to be a total absence of photos of dead passenger pigeons: not a single shot of a guy with a dead bird, or of a wagon of dead birds, or dead birds hanging in the stall of a game market, or a dandy at a shooting match holding up the birds he shot, etc. I have contacted well over a hundred insititutions (not done yet) and have not found one. No one else in the pp world has ever seen such a thing either. I believe that such pictures were taken and that some probably exist but whether I can locate them seems less and less likely. Any help you can provide in this search would be greatly appreciated. If we could find such pictures, it would be a coo! Joel ckerchmar@earthlink.net Rosa,

Thanks for your comments. You might be interested in Project Passenger Pigeon (www.passengerpigeon.org). I would be happy to talk to you if you wanted more information. And please share with me what you write.

The photos of the dead birds hanging from Mershon’s railroad car are of waterfowl: cranes, ducks, and geese. There appears to be a total absence of photos of dead passenger pigeons: not a single shot of a guy with a dead bird, or of a wagon of dead birds, or dead birds hanging in the stall of a game market, or a dandy at a shooting match holding up the birds he shot, etc. I have contacted well over a hundred insititutions (not done yet) and have not found one. No one else in the pp world has ever seen such a thing either. I believe that such pictures were taken and that some probably exist but whether I can locate them seems less and less likely. Any help you can provide in this search would be greatly appreciated. If we could find such pictures, it would be a coo!

Joel
ckerchmar@earthlink.net

]]> By: Rosa Morgan Lockwood http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/comment-page-1/#comment-979 Rosa Morgan Lockwood Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:08:46 +0000 http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/?p=393#comment-979 Hi Mike I came upon your blog while doing research on the passenger pigeon. It's such a tragic story that I will be telling in future. The Mershon photograph with the pigeons is very interesting and its heartening to hear he had a change of viewpoint concerning them. Hi Mike I came upon your blog while doing research on the passenger pigeon. It’s such a tragic story that I will be telling in future. The Mershon photograph with the pigeons is very interesting and its heartening to hear he had a change of viewpoint concerning them.

]]> By: Joel http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/comment-page-1/#comment-852 Joel Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:56:49 +0000 http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/?p=393#comment-852 Mike, Of course I remember. Were you not last in NC? Please tell me what prompted your research into W Butts Mershon. He was an interesting guy. Joel Mike,

Of course I remember. Were you not last in NC?

Please tell me what prompted your research into W Butts Mershon. He was an interesting guy.

Joel

]]> By: Mike Schultz http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/2010/01/24/ann-arbor-rendezvous/comment-page-1/#comment-836 Mike Schultz Mon, 24 May 2010 20:41:14 +0000 http://www.birdzilla.com/blog/?p=393#comment-836 Hi Joel!! Greetings from the past. I came across your blog today doing a little research on WB Mershon. A friend of mine here in NC has come across a Mershon Medal for the Preservation of Birds. He is trying to learn more about it. Apparently they were given to school children for doing bird related projects. (Martin houses etc) Do you know anything about the medals? Here is a link to pics of the medal: http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/birds/mershon-medal.htm We just returned from a western trek looking for #700. Lois got hers, Cal. Gnatcatcher, but I'm stuck at 699. I guess the AOU split of Winter Wren will have to do. It will be good to here from you! Thanks, Mike Schultz, Durham NC Hi Joel!! Greetings from the past. I came across your blog today doing a little research on WB Mershon. A friend of mine here in NC has come across a Mershon Medal for the Preservation of Birds. He is trying to learn more about it. Apparently they were given to school children for doing bird related projects. (Martin houses etc) Do you know anything about the medals? Here is a link to pics of the medal: http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/.....-medal.htm
We just returned from a western trek looking for #700. Lois got hers, Cal. Gnatcatcher, but I’m stuck at 699. I guess the AOU split of Winter Wren will have to do. It will be good to here from you!
Thanks, Mike Schultz, Durham NC

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