Occasionally in Brooklyn or the Bronx, you see great clouds of pigeons turning in the sky. They’re often trained by fanciers that keep enormous coops on their roofs. The Times has a great story up about the dying sport of pigeon racing.

Which reminds me of a curious fact: Mike Tyson grew up “rolling” pigeons and has remained crazy for them; when he was a kid, he actually beat down a bully that decapitated one of his flock, which began his series of legal problems. USA Today had a moving story about his love, published a couple years ago.

And don’t forget about this amazing book about pigeon breeds, which is better than 95% of the art books out there. Image by Bird in the Hand via Flickr Creative Commons.