How We Lost the Only Parrot Native to America
Their feathers were used to decorate women’s hats and dresses.
Once, the skies of the US were filled with colorful birds flying and chirping. These breathtaking birds were called the Carolina parakeets. They were flashing pops of orange, yellow, and green and looked like daytime fireworks. Parakeets were the country’s only native parrot species that had the most diverse living range.
John James Audubon noticed the sudden absence of the parrots and warned in 1831,
“In some districts, where twenty-five years ago they were plentiful, scarcely any are now to be seen.”
Unfortunately, on February 21, 1918, the last Carolina parakeet, called Incas died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. Although it appeared that the parrot died of natural causes, it was likely that Incas actually passed away from a broken heart. This poor parrot was the lone survivor of his species, and his mate and constant companion had died three years earlier. Since no efforts were made to breed this beautiful creature at the zoo, there was no way to end his solitude.
Now, more a century later, the mystery still remains. It is obvious that humans played an important part in the extinction of these birds, but we still need to understand how exactly the birds…
