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Conuropsis carolinensis

Carolina Parakeet |

Psittacidae

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Leavenworth, Kansas
Near the Kansas River
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June 26, 1804 |
Memories no longer
Imagine the complete disappearance of the robin. The memories of this common song bird removed from the landscape would be haunting. Such is the story of the Carolina parokeet, only nobody living now keeps the memory of these once common birds. Hunted to extinction within a few years of the passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet remains etched into American history as a symbol of the populace's tendency to irradicate one-of-a-kind natural resources for short-term, individual gain. This bird was North America's only native parrot, brightly colored, social, and raucus-voiced, and yet two centuries ago, such a common sight that Clark mentioned seeing them along the Missouri River in a most ordinary voice. Carolina parakeets survived in the wild for around 100 years after Clark recorded seeing them in 1804. The last surviving bird died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.

Capt. Clark, June 26, 1804--I observed a great number of Parrot queets this evening.
 Linné, Carl von, Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, ed. 10, 2 vols, Holmiae: impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii, 1758
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