If you happen to be a Fallen London subscriber (or want to be! Start playing the game, it's excellent! https://www.fallenlondon.com/), you can catch my first 'Exceptional Story' for Failbetter, A Columbidaean Commotion on there this month.
Even if you have nothing to do with Fallen London, however, you are mandated to go and check out the utterly incredible poster for the story, done by Toby Cook.
It's about pigeons. As anyone who follows me doubtless already knows, pigeons have become somewhat of a pandemic obsession (birds generally, really, but pigeons are something special). I know they get a bad rap (which is partly what the story is about), but they're really so remarkable. I know that I never really looked at them that closely before. It's true that many of those in cities are in poor condition -- but that's generally down to poor living conditions and no access to clean water, as the birds actually have very good hygeine standards -- but pigeons just really are beautiful when you start looking.
The city pigeons we see are feral versions of the wild rock dove. Pigeons were humanity's first domesticated birds, before even chickens, and we've spent a long time living with each other. Now, they're largely abandoned (hence 'feral') and often marginalised in city spaces (I know they can behave in pestish ways, but they are not inherently pests). They nest in buildings edifices, alcoves, crevices, because they're reminiscent of their natural cliff environments. They are really remarkable flyers.
I'll say this for pigeons, though, even if you're sceptical: if you can find them beautiful, it will make your life better. Just being able to see them, everywhere you go around cities, pottering, soaring, existing as a bunch of wonderful feathery idiots, that will add so much to your life. To turn something banal into something that's a daily delight and pleasure. The art of noticing, seeing, connecting with the world of which we are. To find beauty in the everyday.
Photo by: Ash McAllan