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    Heated rivalries and (pigeon) sex: the passionate world of Scottish doo fleein’

    The sport of competitive pigeon flying (or ‘doo fleein’, in the parlance of its practitioners) is a centuries-old Scottish tradition, and the pursuit of no more than about 1,000 Scots. It requires an expertise in all things pigeon, but essentially boils down to luring an opponent’s birds into a sexual rendezvous with your own pigeons. Pouters follows two longtime rivals, Rab and Danny, as they compete for doo fleein’ supremacy among bleak Glasgow apartment tower blocks.

    Director: Paul Fegan

    5 February 2016
    A man standing on a rooftop while pigeons fly out of a large cage against a clear blue sky.

    videoSubcultures

    A tour of the Brooklyn rooftops where man’s best friend has a beak and wings

    8 minutes

    Two children standing outdoors, both wearing hoodies and looking through binoculars, blurred background with green grass.

    videoThe environment

    We can’t fly like birds, nor can we stop our gaze soaring skyward to dream of it

    3 minutes

    A man in a forest with a falcon on his gloved arm at sunrise or sunset, light filtering through trees, with blue flowers.

    videoSports and games

    Why falconers believe a bird of prey in action is still a wonder worth beholding

    4 minutes

    Five brown birds perched on a branch in a forest with a black bird displaying its wings on the ground below.

    videoBiology

    A bird-of-paradise must become a lord of the dance to woo a discerning mate

    2 minutes

    Close-up of a colourful peacock spider with iridescent markings on its body, standing on a wooden surface.

    videoEvolution

    Dance or die! A male spider must impress a female with his moves, or be eaten

    4 minutes

    A girl holding a kite and string spool with a cityscape and hillside in the background, standing by a brick wall.

    videoSports and games

    ‘Since we don’t have wings we fly kites’ – aerial combat above Rio’s favelas

    5 minutes

    A smiling man with short hair in a barber’s chair while the barber holds up a mirror for him to see the haircut.

    videoHuman rights and justice

    An inmate defends his title in Scotland’s prison hairdressing competition

    30 minutes

    A dense murmuration of birds flying over a field, with a row of leafless trees in the background and a grey sky.

    videoBiology

    One of the most wondrous markers of the end of the day is a murmuration of starlings

    2 minutes

    Silhouetted birds on branches overlaying a historical newspaper obit titled “Eugene Schieffelin Dead.”

    videoHistory

    The manifest destiny of starlings. How a nod to Shakespeare unleashed an avian conquest

    13 minutes