Texas Fauna Project

Passenger Pigeon

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Stan Casto, a wildlife biologist who taught for many years at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, has been long fascinated by the passenger pigeon. Before its 1914 extinction, the pigeon visited at least 68 counties in Texas during its winter migrations, favoring the headwater forests of the Trinity and Neches Rivers. Here, Dr. Casto notes that the pigeons once roosted in such huge flocks that a number of sites in the state are still named in honor of this long-gone bird.