Editing Passenger pigeon (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Passenger Pigeon in flight.jpg|thumb|Specimen in flying pose, [[Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University]]]]

The passenger pigeon was found across most of North America east of the [[Rocky Mountains]], from the [[Great Plains]] to the [[East Coast of the United States|Atlantic coast]] in the east, to the south of Canada in the north, and the north of Mississippi in the southern United States, coinciding with its primary habitat, the eastern [[temperate deciduous forest|deciduous forests]]. Within this range, it constantly migrated in search of food and shelter. It is unclear if the birds favored particular trees and terrain, but they were possibly not restricted to one type, as long as their numbers could be supported.<ref name="Fuller 2014 30–47"/><ref name="Blockstein 2">{{Harvnb|Blockstein|2002|p=2}}</ref> It originally bred from the southern parts of eastern and central Canada south to eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Georgia in the United States, but the primary breeding range was in southern Ontario and the [[Great Lakes]] states south through states north of the [[Appalachian Mountains]].<ref name="Blockstein 3"/> Though the western forests were ecologically similar to those in the east, these were occupied by band-tailed pigeons, which may have kept out the passenger pigeons through [[competitive exclusion]].<ref name="Extinct Birds"/>

The passenger pigeon wintered from Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina south to Texas, the Gulf Coast, and northern Florida, though flocks occasionally wintered as far north as southern Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It preferred to winter in large swamps, particularly those with [[alder]] trees; if swamps were not available, forested areas, particularly with [[pine]] trees, were favored roosting sites. There were also sightings of passenger pigeons outside of its normal range, including in several Western states, [[Bermuda]], [[Cuba]], and [[Mexico]], particularly during severe winters.<ref name="Blockstein 3"/><ref name="Blockstein 5">{{Harvnb|Blockstein|2002|p=5}}</ref><ref name="Blockstein 6"/> It has been suggested that some of these extralimital records may have been due to the paucity of observers rather than the actual extent of passenger pigeons; North America was then unsettled country, and the bird may have appeared anywhere on the continent except for the far west.<ref name="Blockstein 2"/> There were also records of stragglers in Scotland, Ireland, and France, although these birds may have been escaped captives, or the records incorrect.<ref name="Fuller 2014 30–47"/><ref name="Blockstein 3">{{Harvnb|Blockstein|2002|p=3}}</ref>

More than 130 passenger pigeon fossils have been found scattered across 25 US states, including in the [[La Brea Tar Pits]] of California. These records date as far back as 100,000 years ago in the [[Pleistocene]] era, during which the pigeon's range extended to several western states that were not a part of its modern range. The abundance of the species in these regions and during this time is unknown.<ref name="Blockstein 3"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Howard |first=H. |author-link=Hildegarde Howard |title=A Pleistocene Record of the Passenger Pigeon in California |journal=Condor |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=12–14 |year=1937 |jstor=1363481 |doi=10.2307/1363481 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/node/98584}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Chandler |first=R. M. |title=A Second Pleistocene Passenger Pigeon from California |journal=Condor |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=242 |year=1982 |jstor=1367681 |doi=10.2307/1367681 |url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v084n02/p0242-p0242.pdf}}</ref>