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Pigeon Arrival Board
A split-flap arrivals board for the garden feeder, announcing each pigeon at its scheduled time.
by Edmund Clegg
€35,800
pledged of €24,000 goal
- Backers
- 380
- Funded
- 149%
- From
- €19
Backed by Wiktor B., Jeanne P. and 378 others
Recently backed
- Wiktor B. · Gdańsk ·
- Jeanne P. · Lyon ·
- Malik A. · Marseille ·
- Heiko S. · Hanover ·
- Aoife N. · Galway ·
Story
A garden feeder receives around forty pigeons a day. Until now, none of them has been announced.
The timetable
From 2019 to 2025 the Inventor recorded every pigeon to land on his feeder in York: the time, the direction it came from, and whether it stayed. The notebook holds 9,612 arrivals. Averaged by quarter-hour, they settle into 41 scheduled arrivals a day, each with an origin: "Roof, No. 14", "Church tower", "Unknown". This timetable ships on every board.
Announcement, not detection
The board has no camera and no sensor. It does not detect pigeons. It announces them. A pigeon that lands at the time shown has arrived on time. If none has landed five minutes after the scheduled time, the status turns to Delayed; after twenty minutes, Cancelled. The board cannot tell one pigeon from another. In six years of testing, neither could the Inventor.
The flaps
Each character is a module of 52 flaps on its own stepper motor, and a full turn takes 1.8 seconds. The board refreshes once a minute, on the minute, at 34 dB at one metre. A silent version was tried for a week. Nobody in the household believed it.
Regional timetables
Not every Backer has six years of notebooks. The Regional timetable Reward replaces the Inventor's York schedule with one compiled from 212 notebooks kept by other observers, across 14 regions of the UK and Europe. It loads over USB and applies from the next minute.
Stretch goals
At €30,000 the board gained a Departures mode, selected by a switch on the back. It uses the same flaps and the same timetable, offset by the average stay of 11 minutes. At €40,000, a two-tone chime will sound before each arrival.
| Display | 3 rows × 20 split-flap characters |
|---|---|
| Flap height | 38 mm |
| Housing | 62 × 24 × 9 cm, powder-coated aluminium, IP54 |
| Timetable | 41 scheduled arrivals a day, compiled 2019–2025 |
| Status flaps | On time, Expected, Delayed, Cancelled |
| Refresh | Once a minute, on the minute |
| Power | 12 V mains adapter, 6 W turning, 0.4 W idle |
| Sensors | None |
| Finish | Station green or slate grey |
Stretch goals
- €30,000Departures mode, on the same flaps(unlocked)
- €40,000A two-tone chime before each arrival(not yet)
Rewards
The Arrival Board
€89
One board with its wall bracket, mains adapter and the Inventor's own timetable.
- Ships to Domestic, Europe, Rest of world
- Est. delivery Mar 2027
- 260 claimed
Board and feeder
€129
The board with a matching hanging feeder, so the arrivals have somewhere to arrive.
- Ships to Domestic, Europe, Rest of world
- Est. delivery Mar 2027
- 80 claimed
Regional timetable
€19
A timetable for your region, compiled from observers' notebooks, for a board you already own or have pledged for.
- Digital, nothing ships
- Est. delivery Feb 2027
- 40 claimed
Add-ons
Add a Reward to your Cart first: Add-ons come with one.
- Spare flap set (one character)€15
- Post bracket, for mounting beside the feeder€12
Just support it
No Reward, only the satisfaction. With a Reward in your Cart, this adds to that Pledge as bonus support.
Updates
Departures mode unlocked
Passing €30,000 unlocked Departures mode. A switch on the back of the board changes the header from Arrivals to Departures and offsets each scheduled time by the average stay of 11 minutes. Every board ships with it; nothing needs to change in your Pledge.
The next stretch goal is a two-tone chime at €40,000.
Funded in nine days
We passed €24,000 on day nine. Thank you. The flap modules are ordered from the same supplier that fitted the prototype, so tooling is not on the critical path.
The next stretch goal, at €30,000, is a Departures mode.
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Comments
How does it know a pigeon has arrived?
It does not. It knows when one is due. Whether it arrives is the pigeon's part.
Backed in station green. Our feeder is already on a post, so I added the bracket.
We get mostly sparrows. Is there a timetable for those?
Not yet. The regional timetables cover pigeons only. A sparrow arriving at a scheduled time will be shown as the pigeon that was due.
Our 07:45 from the church tower has been on time four days running.
Is the flap noise adjustable? The board will be outside a bedroom window.
There is a night setting that holds the board between 22:00 and 06:00. No arrivals are scheduled in those hours, so nothing is missed.
Departures mode unlocked. Switching it on the moment mine arrives.
What happens to the timetable when the clocks change?
The timetable is kept in local time. The pigeons adjust within about a week; the board adjusts at once.