The Pigeon Kings of Brooklyn

THE BIRDS from jj sulin on Vimeo.

Take a moment to look up from the busy streets of New York City.

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You might glimpse a flock of purebred pigeons swooping in circles around abandoned tenement buildings of the Big Apple.  They’re there for a reason.  They have a purpose.  They have people who care for them deeply.

We don’t know why we haven’t heard about pigeon-raising until now; it appears that the City has no shortage of people training and caring for them, we found out.

In The Birds by Brooklyn based photographer and filmmaker JJ Sulin, seen in the short film above, we are let into the world of three men who independently raise hundreds of pigeons in New York City.  It’s the story of why Joe Scott from Brooklyn, Tom Scotto from Staten Island, and Vincent Outerbridge from the Bronx all became interested in a career raising the birds.

Pigeon Kings of Brooklyn, seen below, is also a short documentary about NYC’s Bushwick residents who raise pigeonsin rooftop coops across the urban landscape.

The three New Yorkers say they find poetry and religion in their birds, competing for the hearts and minds of a gaggle of pigeons flying high above the skies over Brooklyn.

Their aerial acrobatics are guided by their keeper, a streetwise Puerto Rican nicknamed 2Tone.  On the other end of the borough, a man named Goodwin, and his pal Super 13, tend to their own pigeon coop and flock of 300 birds.

Some may consider them a nuisance; germ-ridden, mangy creatures scrounging off leftovers and good for nothing but sullying city landmarks.  But these films show pigeons in a whole new light– where they vastly improve New York City’s sky and provide some of its inhabitants with company and happiness.

In the age-old art of pigeon keeping, the birds– all varieties of domestic pigeons– are precious rather than pestilent.

These two films highlight the hobby and competition among coop owners, all the while forming a tight bond with their pigeon flock.  Make no mistake, each man is trying to beat the other, to lure his precious birds away.

Sure, it’s about bragging rights, but it’s also about finding that “true pigeon that will never break your heart,” as 2Tone says.

Who even knew?  We certainly didn’t and we had no idea they could be so dear to so many.

~Via JJ Sulin, Narratively, Daily Mail, Chris Andrade, Vimeo

by Skippy Massey

This post originally appeared at the Humboldt Sentinel. Reprinted with permission.

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