Of the hundreds of parrots around the world, the Carolina parrot was once the only parrot native to North America. Its image appears frequently in Indian legends and paintings, with locals calling it the "yellow head". Until the early 19th century, this parrot was still common in the eastern part of the United States. But over the next hundred years, the bird's population suddenly plummeted, and its extinction was so rapid that nearly no scientific research was conducted. In 1918, the world's last Carolina parrot died at the Cincinnati Zoo in the United States. At that time, people were not sure whether its nest was built on a branch or in a tree hole. To this day, the reason for the extinction of the Carolina parrot remains a debated mystery.
Although the root cause of the extinction is unknown, the disappearance of the Carolina parrot is closely related to human activity. The number of such birds showed a pattern of decreasing from the east coast to the west, which was consistent with the process of European colonization and exploration of the Americas at that time. Especially after the Industrial Revolution in the 1760s, the rate at which humans transformed nature increased significantly. Vast tracts of virgin forest in the eastern United States were cut down, and swamps and wastelands were converted into cities and farms. This makes the Carolina parrot, which makes the wetlands and forests their home, bear the brunt of it.
Carolina parrot
The loss of habitat has many serious consequences. One of them is the reduction of hiding places. For birds with brilliant plumage and song-loving birds like the Carolina parrot, the absence of forest shelter can be fatal. This bird is like a traffic light flying, and it is difficult not to attract the attention of humans. It didn't take long for Europeans to catch and sell the birds, using them as ornamental pets and feathers as decorations for women's hats. The profits of trade created an endless incentive to catch parrots.
Another consequence of habitat loss is a sharp reduction in food. The Carolina parrot feeds on the seeds and fruits of various plants. It is like a gardener in the forest, not only rejecting the nuts of pine, oak and beech, but also preferring to eat the seeds of the toxin-containing plants. As forests continue to be replaced by farmland and orchards, parrots gather in large flocks of hundreds and fly hungrily into the fields to feed. They eat wheat, peck corn, cut apples open, and eat the seeds inside. Farmers abhor these "pest birds" that destroy crops and hunt them mercilessly.
Carolina parrots have a unique habit, they are very communal, a parrot will be injured will make a warning and distress call, this song can be heard for 3 kilometers away, and the same kind of people who hear it will come to the rescue. Sadly, wave after wave of parrots, attracted by the cries of their companions, flew into the orchards in an attempt to gather around the injured parrots, but this habit triggered round after round of slaughter of parrots by farmers.
Some scientists believe that poultry introduced to North America at the time may have transmitted diseases such as Chicken Newcastle disease to the Carolina parrot. The alien virus quickly crushed the species that had evolved independently on the American continent for tens of millions of years.
By the second half of the 19th century, wild Carolina parrots were rare. At that time, some parrots were kept in zoos or as private pets. Although the lifespan of this bird is more than 30 years, and it can survive for a long time and reproduce under the conditions of captivity, people at that time did not have this brain, and artificial conservation and breeding were not sufficient.
In 1904, the last wild Carolina parrot also died at the hands of humans, and the once noisy parrot swarm was nowhere to be found. People were finally surprised to realize that this kind of harmful bird, which had made farmers rack their brains and could not be expelled, had quietly faded out of sight. Today, many Americans are still proud to mention this parrot, which is only produced in North America, but the matter is already confused and unable to return to the sky. Was it human destruction of nature, or was it human inaction to protect birds that caused the Carolina parrot to disappear rapidly? Whatever the answer to this puzzle, the extinction of the Carolina parrot is a wake-up call from nature to humanity.
