Why visitors are flocking to Philadelphia’s popular pigeon tour

When tourists visit Philadelphia, they like to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the Rocky Steps. Now, there’s a new attraction that can be added to the list: pigeons.

Hannah Michelle Brower and her partner, Aspen Simone, started their tour business, Philly Pigeon Tours, where they take you to visit “pigeony areas in the neighborhood.”

“If you live in any city, you’ve probably seen them [pigeons] many times, but we don’t learn to pay attention,” Hannah Michelle told CBS News.

The 90-minute tour, which TripAdvisor now ranks as the third most popular in the city, answers all your burning pigeon-related questions, including why they always face the same way. 

“So they’re facing into the wind because their feathers streamline from front to back,” Simone explained on a recent tour.

It may seem ridiculous, but just seeing Hannah Michelle’s joy is worth the price of admission. And to think, she used to hate pigeons until four years ago, when she came across one that appeared to be sick or injured.

Hannah Michelle says she couldn’t just leave it there, although many of us would have. Instead, she nursed it back to health, and she said that experience changed her entire outlook.

“She was so cute and scruffy and I just completely fell in love with her,” Hannah Michelle said.

It is a love that never left. That pigeon, which they named Primrose, is now fully domesticated, takes baths, gets blowouts and likes to be petted. 

“We constantly, every day, are like, ‘There’s a pigeon in our apartment,'” Hannah Michelle said. “‘This is absurd!'”

The whole thing may seem crazy, but there’s also a method to their madness: a much deeper lesson to their tour.

Said Hannah Michelle: “I think it’s a way for people to practice getting curious about something that they pass every day.”