Pigeon Post Alive and Well

Ever wish you could send your mail by carrier pigeon? Well guess what…you can! Granted, the pigeons aren’t alive and they need postage, but you get the idea.

Back in 2011, Kathy Zadrozny, co-founder of the five-year-old Letter Writers Alliance (LWA), was researching what role these birds played during World War II and whether people still used them today. “I was happy to see that carrier pigeons were still going strong,” she wrote by e-mail. “I wanted to see [whether] there was a way to mimic this delivery method without having to raise the birds.” From there, the Pigeon Post Kit was born. The idea: Put your letter into the “package” and it’ll show up at the recipient’s doorstep as if flown by carrier pigeon.

The kit, which includes a plastic pigeon (shown above), message forms, label pouches, postage for one mailing, and instructions, costs $30. Refills cost another $10. To mail the bird yourself, you’ll have to shell out $2.45. But don’t worry, there’s little question it’ll fit in the blue USPS mailboxes. (Here’s video proof if you’re still unsure.)

In fact, Zadrozny and LWA co-founder, Donovan Beeson, made sure the plastic pigeons could actually soar through the mail. “It violates no postal regulations,” the Pigeon Post FAQ reads. “The pigeon is not hazardous, fragile, or perishable. It weighs under 13 oz., so it is legal to place into a post box. Just because it isn’t a rectangle doesn't mean it can’t be mailed.”

Zadrozny says the carrier pigeons are one of LWA’s bestsellers, and it’s easy to see why. Who wouldn’t love receiving actual mail by avian transporter? “It was first a service where we wrote the message and mailed the pigeon for you. We quickly realized we were taking half the fun out of the concept,” Zadrozny wrote. “There is an odd sense of satisfaction in hearing the thump of the pigeon in the corner mailbox when you mail it off.”

Though we typically prefer not to think about birds thumping, in this case, we’ll make an exception—but only for the Pigeon Post. Besides, Audubon editors love getting mail (wink, wink).

Editor’s Note: Shout out to BirdChick and Olga Nunes for tweeting about this awesome kit.