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I think that I might have seen a bird that is said to be extinct....

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of the Jigglypuff Army
V.I.P Member
This isn’t the first time I saw this bird species either. I saw it about six different times in different locations all in different years. I’m pretty sure it is a passenger pigeon because whenever I Google images of what it looks like, it is the bird that I keep seeing. I just saw another one yesterday outside the window while I was at work. The plumage matches perfectly and it was pecking at the ground. Who do I contact about the possible rediscovery of a lost species?
 
Getting pictures, as good and detailed as you can would be a good place to start. If you do a google search for bird identification you will see many many resources and institutions to contact. There are many birdwatch organizations. One I found in just a few minutes, where people post possible sightings of passenger pigeons:

HoriconBirds.com - Passenger Pigeon Sightings from the Birding Community

I would also come up to speed on similar looking birds if you haven't already like mourning dove, etc.
 
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Getting pictures, as good and detailed as you can would be a good place to start. If you do a google search for bird identification you will see many many resources and institutions to contact. There are many birdwatch organizations. One I found in just a few minutes, where people post possible sightings of passenger pigeons:

HoriconBirds.com - Passenger Pigeon Sightings from the Birding Community

I would also come up to speed on similar looking birds if you haven't already like mourning dove, etc.
I did take a few pics really fast on my phone because I was at work. I’m not sure how well they turned out tbh but I knew that I had to get a few photos of the bird. The fact that I’ve seen the same species multiple times in different locations in my local area makes me believe that somewhere nearby is a hidden colony that a few members come out and are in plain sight but they are ignored because people th8nk that they are extinct.
 
Who do I contact about the possible rediscovery of a lost species?

If it were me, I might start with the National Audubon Society.

 
Getting pictures, as good and detailed as you can would be a good place to start. If you do a google search for bird identification you will see many many resources and institutions to contact. There are many birdwatch organizations. One I found in just a few minutes, where people post possible sightings of passenger pigeons:

HoriconBirds.com - Passenger Pigeon Sightings from the Birding Community

I would also come up to speed on similar looking birds if you haven't already like mourning dove, etc.
I sent an email to the site you linked and described what I saw. I don’t think it was a mourning dove as this bird didn’t make any noise when I was observing it and the blue was a bit more noticeable and like a powder blue and the grey was darker and the throat had this coral shade of pink. It was pink with some orange mixed into the hue.
 
71GKYnWbUDL.jpg


passenger-pigeons_u-L-Q1IYOWB0 (1).jpg
 
Passenger pigeons have been one of my special interests for about 13 years at this point, and I am very familiar with mourning-doves (their closest living relative) as I have rescued & released them, watched them, even hunted & eaten them (they are a game bird in some states & a songbird in others.) Mourning-doves have a peach gray feathering on the top of them, or a dusty slate gray color. The passenger pigeon I believe was more blue.

What color was the bill of your bird?
 
Mourning doves are also out in force at this time of year. We have dozens around our neighborhood. Body shape-wise, they are almost identical to the extinct passengers.

Mild colour variations can also occur within regional populations, much like melanistic patterning in certain canide and feline species.

Carolina Parakeets are also extinct (only parrot species native to the US), but wild flocks of parakeets and budgies have taken root across the southern US. These flocks are descendants of pets that either escaped or were set loose.

DNA analysis would show if the species were a regional colour variation of the mourning dove or a genetically distinct species identical to the extinct species.

The Smithsonian has numerous physical examples of the birds on file, including Martha, the endling of the species who died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. So DNA is available for comparison.
 
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Mourning doves are also out in force at this time of year. We have dozens around our neighborhood. Body shape-wise, they are almost identical to the extinct passengers.

Mild colour variations can also occur within regional populations, much like melanistic patterning in certain canide and feline species.

Carolina Parakeets are also extinct (only parrot species native to the US), but wild flocks of parakeets and budgies have taken root across the southern US. These flocks are descendants of pets that either escaped or were set loose.

DNA analysis would show if the species were a regional colour variation of the mourning dove or a genetically distinct species identical to the extinct species.

The Smithsonian has numerous physical examples of the birds on file, including Martha, the endling of the species who died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. So DNA is available for comparison.

The DNA of the passenger pigeon is recent enough, and varied enough, to make for an interesting chance for the species' de-extinction if geneticists were to want to try a very pretty sort of laboratory experiment.

Color variation in pigeons is definitely a thing. I met two male pigeons that were Birmingham Roller x Valencian Figurita crosses, and beneath the chins of them both were tiny patches of brilliant lime green--a color that isn't found very often in pigeons & definitely not found in those batches.

It is amazing that mourning-doves are as consistent in color as they are, considering rock doves (aka city pigeons) can produce some very interesting color variants.
 
Passenger Pigeons are probably one of the absolute best candidates for a Lazarus species gene editing test.

Mourning doves are similar enough that it would not be the huge chasm facing science on things like the dinosaurs and megafauna (mammoths and mastodons specifically).

It would be interesting to see just how similar the genomes of the two species are.
 
Passenger pigeons have been one of my special interests for about 13 years at this point, and I am very familiar with mourning-doves (their closest living relative) as I have rescued & released them, watched them, even hunted & eaten them (they are a game bird in some states & a songbird in others.) Mourning-doves have a peach gray feathering on the top of them, or a dusty slate gray color. The passenger pigeon I believe was more blue.

What color was the bill of your bird?
Can’t say off the top of my head but I think it was grey. This bird was mostly grey. The only places that had any other colors were the top of the head being a powder blue and a darker shade of pink that was similar to the shade makeup blush is commonly seen as with a bit of orange. It wasn’t Peach and more of a soft coral color. Here’s a pallet with a hue similar to what I saw.

1657856170926.jpeg

#ff6766 is close to the shade but it was a bit softer and not as vivid.
 
Can’t say off the top of my head but I think it was grey. This bird was mostly grey. The only places that had any other colors were the top of the head being a powder blue and a darker shade of pink that was similar to the shade makeup blush is commonly seen as with a bit of orange. It wasn’t Peach and more of a soft coral color. Here’s a pallet with a hue similar to what I saw.

View attachment 81796
#ff6766 is close to the shade but it was a bit softer and not as vivid.

Mourning doves have some very interesting colors as well. The ff6766 is close to some of what can be found on the breast feathers of doves. They are very beautiful up close.
I've seen color variation in mourning doves, and among hunters it was thought that the large, better-plumed ones were "Yankee doves" flying down from the North during their migration. They can often have iridescent patches on the neck that only show in certain light.
 
This isn’t the first time I saw this bird species either. I saw it about six different times in different locations all in different years. I’m pretty sure it is a passenger pigeon because whenever I Google images of what it looks like, it is the bird that I keep seeing. I just saw another one yesterday outside the window while I was at work. The plumage matches perfectly and it was pecking at the ground. Who do I contact about the possible rediscovery of a lost species?
for the usa Home this is the audobon society
 

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