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What it is
The Carolina parakeet was a small, social parrot of eastern North American forests and river woods. IUCN lists it as Extinct. It ate seeds and orchard fruit and nested in tree cavities.
Range
From the Ohio and Mississippi valleys to Florida and the Gulf coast. It was the northernmost wild parrot in the United States.
What happened
Forest clearance and shooting as a crop pest destroyed flocks through the nineteenth century. The last widely accepted wild birds were gone by the early 1900s. Incas, the last captive, died on 21 February 1918 at the Cincinnati Zoo: four years after Martha, the last passenger pigeon, in the same building. Disease from poultry is sometimes suggested as a contributing cause.
When / status
Extinct. Last captive death: 21 February 1918.
Human role
Habitat destruction and persecution as a pest: a documented historical extinction.
Sources
IUCN Red List (Conuropsis carolinensis, EX); Cincinnati Zoo record for Incas.