By 1896 there were only 250,000 Passenger Pigeons left. They came together in one big nesting flock in April of that year in the American speeds were achieved due to its efficient design: The breast was state of Ohio. The newly erected telegraph lines notified the hunters; they descended on this last great huge flock. The result was devastating- 200,000 carcasses, 40,000 mutilated. 100,000 newborn chicks were destroyed or left to predators, perhaps 5,000 birds survived.

The last legitimate record of a wild Passenger Pigeon was in 1900 in Ohio. This bird was shot and its remains are still in the Ohio State Museum.
A few individuals lingered on into the early part of the century in captivity. In 1909 the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens had the three remaining birds, two males and a female. By 1910 only the female was left. This last bird to survive was affectionately called Martha.