Carolina Parakeet
As the settlements increased and the forests were more cleared away, these birds ceased to come. The few old settlers of the days, when the paroquets frequented these parts, feel just as little at home as those beautiful birds did; they long for peace and quiet, whether above the earth or beneath, it does not matter.
-- Gert Goebel (1872) [1]
The Carolina Parrot, sometimes referred to as the Carolina Parakeet, was the only species of parrot native to the eastern United States. Found from southern New England and New York State to Wisconsin and down to Florida and Texas, the Carolina Parrot was one of three parrot species native to North America. The last captive Carolina Parrot died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918. Among the reasons for extinction includes loss of habitat due to widespread deforestation, along with hunting for the decorative use of their feathers in ladies hats.
Classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Psittaciformes
- Family: Psittacidae
- Genus: Conuropsis
- Species: C. carolinensis
Range
The Carolina parakeet had the northernmost range of any parrot, found from southern New England and Wisconsin to Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Gulf of Mexico. Its range was widely distributed west of the Mississippi River as well, as far west as Eastern Colorado.
Habitat
The Carolina parakeet lived in old-growth wetland forests along rivers and in swamps. It was particularly prominent in the Mississippi-Missouri drainage basin, using large hollow trees like cyprus and sycamore for roosting and nesting sites.
Extinction
As early as 1832, John James Audubon noted the decline of Carolina parakeet populations, and the bird was rarely reported outside of Florida after 1860. The last known wild specimen was killed in Florida in 1904, and the last captive Carolina parakeet died in the Cincinnati Zoo on February 21, 1918. The American Ornithologists' Union declared the Carolina parakeet extinct in 1939.
[1] Gert Goebel, Laenger als ein Menschleben in Missouri (St. Louis, 1877), trans. W.G. Beck, as quoted in Mikko Saikku, "The Extinction of the Carolina Parakeet," Environmental History Review, 14(3), p. 1, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3984724.