Tympanuchus Cupido Cupido
The sole remaining Heath Hen in the world was seen for the last time near this spot on March 11, 1932. This eastern race of the greater prairie chicken was declared extinct in 1933. During the mating season, the males made a loud "booming" sound by inflating the orange air sacs on their necks. A sound that could be heard as far as one mile away. A staple in the early colonists diet, the Heath Hen was more important than the wild turkey to the survival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in the hard winter of 1620-1621. Despite the passage of various protective laws, by 1845 the only birds left were on Marthas Vineyard, having once been widespread from coastal New England south at least to Maryland. In 1908 the commonwealth of Massachusetts set aside 600 acres here as a Heath Hen reservation. ... The last bird known as "booming Ben" lived alone from 1929 until 1932.| HM Number | HM2DIA |
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| Tags | |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Monday, January 14th, 2019 at 10:01am PST -08:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 19T E 361821 N 4582278 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 41.38016667, -70.65250000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 41° 22.81', W 70° 39.15' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 41° 22' 48.6" N, 70° 39' 8.9999999999999" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 508, 774 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 35 Vincent Rd, West Tisbury MA 02568, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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