MARCH 2026
MONTHLY ART:
PASSED - PASSENGER PIGEONS
Pigeons and humans have a complicated past. Particularly with passenger pigeons.
From ancient Mesopotamia to much of the European world, pigeons were domesticated and selectively breed for bold plumage, pleasant calls, and entertaining flying abilities. Some pigeons, even today, are highly valuable for their meat, coloration, or speed.
This value sadly didn’t transfer to the passenger pigeon when European colonizers arrived in North America in the 1620s, despite their jaw-dropping population.
Audubon, the bird man himself, described the numbers and sheer presence of passenger pigeons this way: “The air was literally filled with pigeons; the light of noonday was obscured as by an eclipse; the dung fell in spots. Not unlike melting fakes of snow; and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose."
Within just three centuries, the passenger pigeon was wiped out due to colonization. Hunters culled the birds in massive numbers during breeding season, farmers considered them food competitors for their European-stock farm animals, and the lumber and farming land demands of the growing colonies clear-cut the nut-eating passenger pigeon depended on for sustenance, nesting, and safety.
Once the most numerous bird on record, the passenger pigeon went extinct in the the wild in 1900 and extinct entirely just fourteen years later. While not extinct, modern pigeons aren’t given much thought now by most of humanity, as well.
That’s where PASSED comes in, my small homage to the birds whose history and future are irreversibly tied to humans. A passenger pigeon laid to rest among Caddo false foxglove, a symbol of both healing and harm, and a warning against insincerity.
Read more about passenger pigeons and humans’ past with them over at www.patreon.com/beastieandbone
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Ijams Nature Center Mayapple Marketplace, Ijams Nature Center, Knoxville TN, April 19th,
Dogwood Arts Festival at World’s Fair Park, Knoxville TN, April 24th-26th
100 & Under Show at Arrowmont Gallery, Knoxville, TN May 1st-30th
Retropolitan Craft Fair, The Mill & Mine, Knoxville, TN May 3rd
NATURAL HISTORY FACT:
While notorious for their lackadaisical nesting habits (a holdover from originally laying eggs in secure holes in cliff faces that don’t need structured nests build in them), pigeons are actually quite caring parents, and are able to mate up to six times a year. This is in part due to their ability to produce crop milk.
Crop milk can be produced by a variety of birds, but that made by pigeons is unique. Similar to mammalian milk, crop milk is a rich, fatty secretion produced in the crop (expanding section of the digestive tract) of both male and female pigeons that they regurgitate to keep their young fed during any time of year.
RECOMMENDED:
Terrible Lizards Podcastwith co-hosts Dr. David Hone, paleontologist, and Iszi Lawrence, comedian, history presenter, and author.
A pleasant blend of humor, education, and Britishisms, listening to Terrible Lizards is very like sitting near an animated conversation between two big dinosaur nerds at a coffee shop and happily snooping on the whole thing. Topics range from species-specific deep dives, to more general explorations of dinosaur behaviors, evolutionary traits, and paleontology techniques. Most episodes are child-friendly, though content warnings are given in the beginning of each episode if applicable. Available on Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Spotify, Youtube, and the Terrible Lizards website.
NEW IN:
From The Other Side of Time Collector’s Edition - A limited edition variant print of this gaping Appalachiosaurus skull bursting with magnolias and Hercules beetles, detailed with shimmering metallic gold foil and a dramatic red-brown background. Available only through Preorder through April 30th!
3D Papercraft Butterflies and Moths, the first book of Beastie and Bone papercraft projects, is now available for preorder! (Publishing date August 15th, 2026, with Page Street Publishing). A labor of love several years in the making, this all-inclusive book is a beautiful, educational, and engaging expansion on the Beastie and Bone downloadable kits, with 15 all-new species of rare or endangered butterflies or moths for you to create!
IN THE STUDIO:
Sketch of dogwood and a direwolf skull, inspired by the natural history of the southeastern United States, and created specially in anticipation of the Dogwood Arts Festival!
Available soon as a print and a paper art original, alongside new linocuts, additional prints, merch, downloadable kits, and stickers in the B+B Spring Collection shop update, coming very soon!
DISCOUNT:
Monthly discounts are exclusive to those who receive the print version of The Beastie and Bone Snippet though the B+B Happy Mail Club or select tiers of the B+B Patreon.