Platform birdsA pocket atlas for the everyday observer

A city.
Many coats.

Look again at the pigeons beside the platform. That familiar crowd is a small study in extraordinary variation.

Select a bird to read its plumage. Five common appearances, all the same adaptable city species.

Columba liviaFeral pigeon
Illustrated station field study

Blue bar

Two dark bars. One blue-gray wing.

This coat most closely resembles the ancestral rock pigeon. Look for two black bars across a pale gray wing and a darker band at the tip of the tail. The neck can flash green or purple as the bird turns.

Observation prompt: find one bird, sketch its wing, and follow it for a minute without offering food.