Curious Names Pigeons and Parakeets
For KUAR, this is Dan Boice with Naming Arkansas.
While a number of Arkansas places are named for birds, the state has had a surprising number of towns that were named for birds that were hunted to extinction. Pigeon Hill in Union County and Pigeon Roost in Conway County were named for the vast numbers of passenger pigeons that settled there on their migrations. There was also a Pigeon Roost in Lonoke County, which later became Wattensau Bayou, and Conway County’s Pigeon Roost was renamed St. Vincent, after the birds had been exterminated.
The Independence County town of Paroquet was settled in the early nineteenth century and first called Berkley, then renamed for the now extinct Carolina Parakeet, using an older spelling of the word. Local lore says that the parakeets were considered a great nuisance to farmers, eating seeds and flowers, but apparently more romantic souls prevailed in naming the town for the lovely birds.
All that remains now is for for a town to be named Ivory Billed Woodpecker.
For the University of Arkansas at Monticello, this is Dan Boice.