From the series Extinction Portraits

The Carolina Parakeet was the only native parrot species of the Eastern United States.Though many factors contributed to their extinctions, these charming and colorful birds were truly the victims of the rapidly growing population and cultivation of the US. Though killed for their feathers for hats and captured for the pet trade, their main nemesis was farming. Farmers considered them a crop pest, and killed them in large numbers, despite the fact that they were actually beneficial --- being crucial to controlling the invasive cocklebur plant. As land was cleared for farming, the last of the Carolina Parakeets natural habitat disappeared. The few remaining flocks are believed to have died rapidly from an outbreak of some sort of poultry disease.