By some estimates, humans have domesticated pigeons since the 30th century B.C.E. “Old Bird Season” documents the state of this interspecies relationship in the New Jersey suburbs. The New York metro area is home to a proud subculture of pigeon fanciers, who meet frequently to exchange, race and admire their birds. Rather than treat the hobby as an ancient tradition with sacrosanct ways and methods, fanciers have embraced technological change. They purchase medications and supplements, connect on large Facebook groups and spend thousands of dollars on high-tech equipment that arbitrates homing pigeon races to the second.
However, modernity has also taken its toll on pigeon fancying. The hobby demands time, money and frequent hard labor. Its survival has relied for decades on practitioners handing it down to their children, but few of their successors have the means to raise hundreds of birds, and competing distractions come far cheaper. Many fanciers now say the next generation has little interest in keeping birds of their own. Thus, pigeon meets and clubs are increasingly dominated by gray-haired old men, who are increasingly taking decades of accumulated knowledge to their graves.
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