-- Of Tragedies and Centennials --

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"Martha" from Wikipedia

While hope for the Ivory-bill seems to hang by a thread, hope for another species is gone. This is the centennial year for the official extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, with the death of "Martha" in captivity in 1914. "Project Passenger Pigeon" hopes to tell the story of (and lessons from) the Passenger Pigeon saga to all who will listen this year. Their website here:

http://passengerpigeon.org/

One of the projects they're connected with is a documentary film, "From Billions to None" hoping for release later this year:

http://www.e-int.com/billionstonone/helpfinish.html

And today on NPR's "Diane Rehm Show" writer Joel Greenberg, author of "A Feathered River Across the Sky," told the Passenger Pigeon's incredible and sad story to a national audience. If you missed it, worth a listen (1 hour):

http://thedianerehmshow.org/audio-player?nid=18719

The demise of "Martha," at the time in the Cincinnati Zoo, means we at least have a marker by which to celebrate a centennial for this extraordinary species... No one currently knows when/if? the last Ivory-bill died.
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