Started from last week, New York’s night skies were lit by up to 2,000 pigeons flew with LEDs strapped to their legs. The performance held in Brooklyn Navy Yard, named “Fly by Night”, was launched by artist Duke Riley. The massive flock followed the artist’s whistle, circled in the sky for 30 minutes over the deck of a decommissioned U.S. Navy ship.

Weekends May 7 through June 12, Creative Time and the Brooklyn Navy Yard presents Fly By Night, artist Duke Riley’s public artwork of unprecedented scale and beauty. Fly By Night will be Riley’s largest project to date.

Friday through Sunday evenings at dusk, a massive flock of pigeons will elegantly twirl, swoop, and glide above the East River, as Riley orchestrates a series of performances occurring regularly throughout late spring. At the call of a whistle, thousands of birds will emerge from their home in a grand, converted historic boat docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The pigeons will circle above the river as the sun sets over Manhattan, and small leg bands, historically used to carry messages, will be replaced with tiny LED lights, illuminating the sky in a transcendent union of public art and nature.

Fly By Night pays homage to pigeon keeping, both in New York and farther afield. Pigeons have been domesticated for thousands of years and kept by people around the world for their companionship, sport, and service. Locally, each neighborhood in New York once had a community of pigeon keepers (or fanciers, as they are commonly known); a dense network of rooftop pigeon lofts stretched across the five boroughs. While property development and population shifts have caused the practice to wane, Fly By Night reflects back on and makes visible this largely forgotten culture. The iconic Brooklyn Navy Yard, once home to the country’s largest naval fleet of pigeon carriers, is the ideal setting for Riley’s Fly By Night–a tribute to the beautiful, diverse and fascinating histories of pigeon flying and New York City.