A lot of folks may not consider pigeons to be unusual critters, but photographer Andrew Garn disagrees. The native New Yorker has spent the last eight years capturing the charm of those various city birds, using high-performance strobe light photography–a technique that’s often earmarked for studio fashion shoots. Garns’s beautiful pigeon portraits have lately been compiled into a photograph book branded ‘The New York Pigeon: Behind the Feathers’, that shows their”characters, expressiveness, glorious feather iridescence, and deeply hued eyes.”

Photographer Andrew Garn Spent Eight Years Capturing the Charm of the Common City Bird

Printed by powerHouse Books, the show attempts to alter the public perception of this humble pigeon–a bird that is often unkindly nicknamed”stool pigeon” or dismissed as a”rat with wings” The publishers proudly announce,”With this book, the gorgeous, savvy, graceful, type pigeon will probably be invisible no more.” And much like a fashion magazine, Garn also has his star” cover boy”–a purple-breasted bird called Dr. Brown, who is shown”flexing his wings and enormous chest muscles, in an interpretive homage to some Kabuki dancer.”

Many of the photographer’s feathery friends were rescued from New York streets, including a saddle pigeon named Marilyn who was found limping with string wrapped around her feet. She is photographed flaunting her perfectly symmetrical wings, which fold together into a heart-shape. The show also features pictures of newborn pigeons exploring the world for the first time, including one image of a 10-day-old”inquisitive and confident” pigeon taking his very firsts steps.