Apparently they were fairly awful creatures—flocks of a few million birds blackening the skies, decimating crops and crapping on everything.
Couldn't we direct our sympathies to a more like-able creature? Wooly mammoths or great awks, perhaps?

Maybe we eradicated them and it's actually a *good* thing. It's not quite the same as how we (as a species) are still hunting the poor ortolan

Call me insensitive, but I really hate pigeons.