Pigeons from the Black Lagoon

Stephen Green-Armytage is a photographer who worked for LIFE, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, amongst others. He has published several artistic photo books about birds, including "Extraordinary Chickens", the sequel "Extra Extraordinary Chickens" and "Extraordinary Pheasants".

As the name suggests, this one is about pigeons! The first part of the book shows ornamental pigeons, photographed at various pigeon shows. The second part deals with wild, exotic pigeons. There are about 200 color photographs in the book. As usual, Stephen Green-Armytage is particularly drawn to bizarre breeds and specimens. Many of the extraordinary pigeons look unnatural, as if they stepped out of a bad zombie movie. There are pigeons that look like crosses between doves and roosters, others look like lizards, miniature vultures or gigantic swifts. There's even a pigeon that looks vaguely like a flamingo (I think). I must admit that I don't really liked it. Are these birds really healthy?

But yes, the photos are exquisite, and the book is an excellent birthday or Christmas gift. Personally, however, I'm not going to place the Pigeons from the Black Lagoon on my coffee table. They just look to spaced out, LOL!