The West Village is going to the birds.<\/p>\n
A massive mother pigeon and dozens of her realistic-looking squabs<\/a> have turned a Manhattan townhouse into their coop for Halloween \u2014 and New Yorkers are going wild for it.<\/p>\n The home on Bethune Street went viral last week <\/a>for the incredible and detailed decor, the most impressive of which involves the beast pushing its massive head through the second-story window.<\/p>\n A home in the West Village has gone viral for its extremely detailed Halloween display. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n \u201cWe take Halloween very seriously,\u201d said Jessica Dean Schiffer, who had been brainstorming the idea with her husband since last year.<\/p>\n \u201cActually, this morning we were planning for next year already.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple landed on the pigeon coop as a seize-the-moment opportunity, latching onto the relatively new love New York has seemingly developed for the birds<\/a> they previously considered rats of the sky.<\/p>\n But the Schiffers aren\u2019t shy to declare that they don\u2019t feel the same way.<\/p>\n There are between 80 and 100 pigeons in the display. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s scarier than a ton of pigeons? We like to do something that\u2019s frightening and I\u2019m pretty sure a swarm of pigeons is terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair even has costumes set up to match their West Village abode.<\/p>\n Dean Schiffer is planning on being the Pigeon Lady from \u201cHome Alone 2,\u201d and will have her family\u2019s pup tailing her dressed as one of the birds from her flock.<\/p>\n Her husband, Rob Schiffer, is going to be \u201csomeone who had an unfortunate incident with a drive-by pigeon.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the pigeons are hunting decoys, others are feathered toys and some are simple cardboard cutouts. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n The couple turned to the properly-named genius Carl Tallent and his husband, Cristi\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez, to bring the pigeons to life. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very New York-y,\u201d said Tallent, a Broadway set designer and Bergdorf\u2019s window dresser.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually wondered if they wanted to do something with the pigeons being bloody or picking bones or something. And they said, \u2018No, we just want pigeons.’\u201d<\/p>\n The massive project took weeks to construct in the couple\u2019s Washington Heights apartment, with the mama pigeon being the most time-intensive.<\/p>\n The head and wings are foam and feathers, held steady with wooden backing and tension rods. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n The foam head weighs as much as 15 pounds, Tallent estimated. It\u2019s completely covered in feathers and is supported by a wooden backing.<\/p>\n Because the Schiffers didn\u2019t want the piece drilled into the home, the head and wings are held in place with tension rods \u2014 which proved to be a great move when the nor\u2019easter blew through the Big Apple earlier this month<\/a> and left the structure intact.<\/p>\n The house is also surrounded by between 80 and 100 smaller \u2014 and extremely realistic-looking \u2014 pigeons, which are a mix of hunting decoys, feathered toys and cardboard cutouts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had some that we were ordering from China that never arrived!\u201d Tallent laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take Halloween very seriously,\u201d said Jessica Dean Schiffer. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n \u201cIt was totally fun. They were really excited and supportive and totally game for our ideas. It was definitely fun to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, the home has garnered plenty of attention online, prompting many lookey-loos to trek to the home and set their sights on the avian absurdity. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen something so New York like this,\u201d one person wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n \u201cA true house of horrors,\u201d said another. <\/p>\n A third joked that the abode \u201cmust be an MTA building.\u201d<\/p>\n What will happen to Mama Pigeon and her babies once Halloween ends is yet to be seen \u2014 but Tallent tossed around the idea of giving them away to some of New York\u2019s pigeon lovers. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t