The deforestation was a big factor in passenger pigeons
Another big factor was the destruction of nesting sites. Hunters would raze a forest to harvest the squabs. Then they'd shoot the returning adults. The birds weren't able to reproduce and a whole generation disappeared in a very short time. This was the fault of the white man, not the Indians. Commercial hunting decimated the birds.
Yep, and post-Civil War the telegraph and the railroad nailed down the lid, allowing wider communication of where the nesting colonies were, faster arrival at those locations and more efficient shipping of pigeons and squabs to markets.
A sad thing is Central Texas might have been the last wintering ground of the dwindling flocks, big roosts reported here well into the 1880’s.
