Passenger Pigeons
From 5 Billion to None
Passenger pigeons lived together in very large flocks of millions of birds. When they flew through the sky, at an amazing mile per minute, it sounded like a tempest or a tornado. Nearly every eyewitness report says that the sky darkened for several minutes as the birds flew overhead. Others reported “the sound was so great, we could speak to each other only by shouting.” The last great nesting of the passenger pigeons was at Round Lake in Petoskey in 1878. By 1914, the pigeons were extinct.
In June 2026, collaborative partners commemorated the Passenger Pigeon Nesting of 1878 with educational programming, and a sculpture of a passenger pigeon was unveiled at the corner of Petoskey and State Streets in front of the Danser Building.
Vision Statement: to recall by word, experience, and art the tragic story of the wild passenger pigeon in Petoskey and thereby foster greater love for Northern Michigan’s precious natural resources -- our land, water, and wildlife.
The Artist
Artist Todd McGrain’s career has been driven by his belief that art is a form of public engagement that can transform our beliefs and perceptions. Through sculpture, painting and drawing, photography and film, McGrain has combined the language of the visual arts and storytelling to raise awareness of man’s impact on the world and the creatures that share it with us.
Born in Rochester, New York in 1961, McGrain’s fondest childhood memories include his time spent camping and hiking in the Adirondack Mountains. This experience in the wilderness formed a lasting love of our natural world. His early career as a sculptor was spent as an apprentice in bronze casting facilities where he had direct hands on experience supporting some of the most significant sculptors of the previous generation. With the support of a Guggenheim fellowship, McGrain continued his education through a study of the major collections across Europe with a particular focus of the art of the Italian Renaissance.
In his mature career, McGrain has tirelessly pursued his ambition to combine his strengths as an artist with his commitment to raising environmental concerns. Through the Lost Bird Project, McGrain has created permanent public memorials to birds driven to extinction. McGrain spent extended time in the Central Africa Republic, chronicling the extinction threat facing the Forest Elephants of the Rainforest for his award winning film, Elephant Path. His current work is focused on at-risk butterflies of the West Coast.
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“Few Remember the ‘Plague’ of Passenger Pigeons Here in 1878,” Northern Michigan Review (Oct. 7, 1937) at 1 (include remarks by eye witness C.J. Pailthorp): https://gwoodazure.blob.core.windows.net/newspaperfiles/nmr_19371007.pdf
“Project Passenger Pigeon,” Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum: https://naturemuseum.org/cas/project-passenger-pigeon
“The Passenger Pigeon,” Smithsonian Institution: https://www.si.edu/spotlight/passenger-pigeon
Authors and Book Collections
J. Fellows, “Pigeons to the Slaughter: How Petoskey Helped Hunt the Passenger Pigeon to Extinction,” The Petoskey News-Review (April 11, 2023): https://www.petoskeynews.com/story/news/history/2023/04/11/pigeons-to-the-slaughter-how-petoskey-helped-hunt-the-passenger-pigeon-to-extinction/70084173007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z119601e009800v119601d--96--b--96--&gca-ft=180&gca-ds=sophi
H. Kilborn, “Passenger Pigeons Nest in Petoskey Area,” Director’s Blog, Little Traverse History Museum (1954): https://www.petoskeymuseum.org/directors-blog/passenger-pigeons-nest-in-petoskey-area
Aldo Leopold, “On a Monument to the Pigeon,” A Sand County Almanac (1953): http://faculty.fortlewis.edu/DOTT_C/Bio%20250-SWEcol/Activities/On%20a%20Monument%20to%20the%20Pigeon.pdf
W.B. Mershon, The Passenger Pigeon, (1907) (includes articles by, among others, John James Audubon, Chief Pokagon, Pro. H.B. Romy, E.T. Martin): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44729
E.S. Wilson, “Personal Recollections of the Passenger Pigeon,” The Auk, (1934): https://www.jstor.org/stable/4077888
B. Yeoman, “Why the Passenger Pigeon Went Extinct,” Audubon Magazine (May-June 2014): https://www.audubon.org/magazine/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct