In 1933, Irving Berlin wrote "Easter Parade," inspired by a New York City tradition. But this wasn't a parade of marching bands and floats.
It was a promenade — after Easter Sunday services — when society's elite strolled down Fifth Avenue, showing off their new spring attire, especially their elaborate hats.
Wearing new clothes at Easter was said to symbolize spiritual renewal and the arrival of spring.
It's hard not to suspect that fashion and status had something to do with it too.
By the late 1800s, Easter bonnets had become extravagant displays: ribbons, flowers and feathers — sometimes even entire taxidermied birds.
And it wasn't just a few feathers.
During the so-called "plume boom," an estimated 5 to 15 million birds — egrets, spoonbills, birds of paradise — were killed each year for fashion. Hunters often targeted nesting colonies, shooting adults for their plumes and leaving chicks behind in the nests.
That devastation did not go unnoticed. Early ornithologists and conservationists began sounding the alarm — not by writing sonnets, but with urgent reports and advocacy.
Their efforts helped lead to laws restricting the plume trade and to the rise of groups like the National Audubon Society.
But bird populations never really recovered, because the story doesn't end there. Even as plume hunting declined, habitat loss accelerated. Wetlands were drained, land developed, ecosystems reshaped — affecting not just plume-bearing birds, but wildlife across the entire continent.
Easter parades still take place in some parts of the country — though thankfully, the hats no longer are adorned with plumes.
So maybe this season can still be about renewal. Not just in what we wear, but in what we protect.
Spring might be a time to restore wetlands and to celebrate the return of herons and egrets and other migrants — and to make sure they have a place to return each spring.
