Fancy pigeons flaunt their feathers on this putting photograph collection

The weird, lovely and, at instances, nearly comical range of “fancy pigeons” is captured right here by photographer Luisa Maria Stagno.

The a lot maligned pigeons everyone knows, that are ubiquitous in cities around the globe, are literally descended from escaped or launched domesticated pigeons, which had been in flip bred from the wild rock dove (Columba livia).

At present, pigeons have been selectively bred by people to show a bewildering number of shapes and hues, numbering as many as 1100 breeds. Even Charles Darwin was identified to have bred the birds, and his On the Origin of Species makes quite a few references to them.

Now, Stagno is on a mission to doc essentially the most uncommon of their variety, completely with out favouritism. “I don’t have any favourite pigeon, because I find them all very beautiful,” she says. “I think each pigeon is unique.”

The names given to those breeds are sometimes as fanciful as their look. Ranging from the primary picture, from high, are a Franconian Trumpeter, with its wing-like sideburns, a Danish Suabian, a Jacobin, a Gimpel or Archangel and an Previous Dutch Capuchine.