Passenger pigeons were gone decades before the bulk of American Chestnuts were killed off. The last known specimen died in a zoo in 1914. Most of the large chestnut trees were dead by the early 1950's, but I ate some of the nuts from small survivors while grouse hunting a couple years ago. They still sprout and grow and bear nuts for a few years before the bark becomes fissured and they become susceptible to the blight. They also continue to send up shoots from the still living root systems of dead trees. Several years ago, I read about some large apparently blight resistant American Chestnuts that were found growing in Michigan. There was a breeding program to attempt to reintroduce them.
They were huge trees, and apparently fairly rot resistant. When I was in college in Central Pennsylvania and hunted in the Allegheny Mountains there, I sometimes found the huge moss covered trunks of fallen American Chestnuts that had not yet rotted away. Butt ends were up to 10-12 feet in diameter, and considering the length of the remaining trunk, they had to be well over 100 feet tall. When I find a living one now, they are seldom more than 15 feet tall, but can produce a lot of nuts. They are very tasty, much better than the Chinese chestnuts grown and sold today.
I'd like to find one last remaining Passenger Pigeon to see what they taste like. Those Market Hunters must have went after them for good reason.
