PALM HARBOR – The population of the Passenger Pigeon in the 19th century reached 4 million individual birds. Their dense flocks spanned a mile wide and 300 miles long, forming a sea of dark sky for many hours into days while passing over land. The pigeons could reach flight speeds up to 70 mph.

John James Audubon, the French-American ornithologist, naturalist and painter, wrote of the pigeons, “When an individual is seen gliding through the woods and close to the observer, it passes like a thought, and on trying to see it again, the eye searches in vain; the bird is gone.”

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GREAT HORNED OWL
Photo courtesy of Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club
Clearwater, Florida

GREAT HORNED OWL NEST
Photo courtesy of Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club
Clearwater, Florida

FLORIDA ALLIGATOR
Photo Courtesy of Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club
Clearwater, Florida