Why visitors are flocking to Philadelphia's popular pigeon tour
The 90-minute tour, which TripAdvisor now ranks as the third most popular in Philadelphia, answers all your burning pigeon-related questions.
Key points
- Philly Pigeon Tours offers a 90-minute pigeon tour in Philadelphia.
- TripAdvisor ranks the tour as the third most popular in the city.
- Hannah Michelle Brower started the business after nursing an injured pigeon back to health.
Philadelphia visitors already know the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the Rocky Steps. A new attraction has joined the list: pigeons. Hannah Michelle Brower and her partner, Aspen Simone, run Philly Pigeon Tours, which takes people to see "pigeony areas in the neighborhood."
The 90-minute tour is now ranked by TripAdvisor as the third most popular in the city. It answers common questions about pigeons, including why they always face the same direction. Simone explained during a recent tour that the birds face into the wind because their feathers streamline from front to back.
How the tour began
Brower used to hate pigeons until four years ago, when she found one that seemed sick or injured. She said she could not leave it, so she nursed it back to health. That experience, she said, changed her entire outlook.
The pigeon, named Primrose, is now fully domesticated. According to Brower, Primrose takes baths, gets blowouts and likes to be petted. Brower said she and Simone still marvel daily that a pigeon lives in their apartment.
I think it's a way for people to practice getting curious about something that they pass every day.
— Hannah Michelle Brower
A deeper lesson
Brower said the tour carries a larger purpose. She described it as a way for people to practice getting curious about something they pass every day.
