Anyone passionate about passenger pigeons really must make a pilgrimage to Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum. In the 1920s ROM prepared and distributed a detailed questionnaire on passenger pigeons that yielded important information from those who knew the birds from life. Under the museum’s auspices, this information was collated and augmented by a wide […]
My first trip to the Smithsonian, in June, was to present a lecture. My second trip, from September 21 to 23, was to present, with David Mrazek, our documentary, From Billions to None. (David’s wife is from the DC area, so his family of three took the opportunity to make a vacation out of the […]
It was all of a 60 mile or so drive to Ann Arbor where I was to give the annual William Farrand Memorial Lecture at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History the following evening. There was no grilling or very much talking of any kind as I crossed the border and headed to my […]
Continue reading about Two Countries and Three Talks: Michigan
On September 17 I commenced an unusual road trip: three venues in two different countries. The first part of the excursion was hosted most delightfully by the Essex Region Conservation District, based in Essex, Ontario. Kris Ives had been corresponding for a while regarding their passenger pigeon specimen and desire to create a traveling exhibit […]
Continue reading about Two Countries and Three Talks: Ontario
There was an almost two week period in early September that all of my talks were local. The Burpee Museum of Natural History, in Rockford, Illinois, holds over 100,000 specimens, almost a third of which are of a paleontological nature. This recent emphasis on fossils has enabled the museum to establish a national reputation in […]
Way back in January 2012, at the height of my evangelizing period, I met at the Harvard Museum of Natural History with a group representing a range of New England organizations. One of those present was Rob Kluin of Plimoth Plantation. We had exchanged e-mails over the years. He was particularly generous in providing contact […]
For five years I had been working to help publicize the centenary of the passenger pigeon’s extinction. Events kicked off in January with the release of my book, but the key date was September 1, the day Martha died a century ago, and the key place was the Cincinnati Zoo, where she died. Way back […]
Continue reading about The Day and the Place: September 1 and Cincinnati
“I’ve written a few articles for the Tennessee Conservationist magazine, one on the Ivory-bill and another recently on the passenger pigeon and links to Tennessee. I know why you are interested in the [passenger pigeon]. It kind of gets under your skin after a while.” Paul James to Blogger I met Paul James in […]
I was invited to speak on August 15 at Godfrey, Illinois, which is a bit south of St. Louis. This prompted me to reach out to other potential venues in southern Illinois, a region I am particularly fond of. Most helpful in my quest was Tom Connelley, who along with Curt Carter have been celebrating […]
Continue reading about The St. Louis Zoo and Shawnee Hills Too