One of the competing pigeons was at the first Pigeon Festival in New York City

The final pigeon duo Peck and Wreck are opening up to people about their experience competing at New York’s first Pigeon Fest on the High Line on June 14, also known as Pigeon Appreciation Day.

People under the feathers, Mandy Meindersma, 30, and Sophia Erskine, 26, compete in the Pigeon Fest pageant. The pageant features contestants in beautifully dressed outfits tied to the city’s inconspicuous but iconic birds.

For the performance, Peck and Wreck wore feathery costumes on the stage, with a fully functional dove beak and bird-like eye makeup. The act tells the story of Peck and the Wreck, fighting for a perfect piece of pizza, represented by a balloon and featuring Meindersma and Erskine, doing some acrobatics for the plot. As Acroyoga’s partner for two years, Meindersma and Erskine guided their friendship and trusted pecking and shipwreck performances.

The pageant won Miriam Abrahams, who spent a month hand-crafting the paper Mâché Pigeon ensemble, while Meindersma and Erskine still felt like the grand prize winners, one of seven pigeon shows, they chose to perform in the Pigeon Festival among hundreds of contestants.

“We practice this behavior every day,” Meindersma said of the preparations for the big event. “Sofia and I both invested 70 hours in 3 weeks: practice performance, choreography, audio mixing and costume making.”

She added: “I'm honored to represent thousands of pigeons! Our moves are really fun, fun and adorable, so I think that can make some fans of pigeons a fan of pigeons.”

The two felt forced into Pigeon Fest because their costumes were made partly from Halloween, when friends dressed up as rats and doves. They were honored to hold a courtroom with six other pigeon acts, many of which included professional performers.

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Meindersma and Erskine won the pigeon-shaped trophy for their work in beauty pageants, and their worship of the Dove Festival attracted thousands of bird lovers, including several pigeon parents.

“People bring pet pigeons, they're so social that you can pamper them and then get a picture on your shoulders,” Meinsersma said. “The turnout is great! It's rainy and cold, but people are still shocked to see the pigeon race.”

Meindersma is optimistic that the success of Pigeon Fest will lead to another event next year and overall acceptance and respect for the birds commonly known as “Winged Rats.”

“They are like service dogs we forgot. We domesticated them, and now they are just relaxing around humans because that's what they know. They're not annoying, they're just doing the only thing they know how to do, being with us,” Meindersma said why Pigeons deserve our love.

New York City’s first Dove Festival also hosts carnival games, group discussions and other celebrations. It was held on National Pigeon Appreciation Day, a holiday associated with President Woodrow Wilson, who first celebrated the day in honor of the carrier pigeon’s contribution to World War I The New York Times.