The sole remaining Heath Hen in the world was last seen near this spot on March 11, 1932, and this eastern race of the greater prairie chicken was declared extinct in 1933. During the mating season, 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 diet of the early colonists, 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 various protective laws, by 1845 the only birds left were on Marthas Vineyard, though the species had 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, and the last bird, known as Booming Ben, lived alone from 1929 until 1932.

West Tisbury, Massachusetts · USA