: Flying Message Service (FMS) is a design project promoting community-based messaging in public spaces in the city. We have built a system that enables people to attach electronic messages to pigeons. From input stations located in public plazas, pigeons would transmit text messages to be displayed on large public screens at plazas throughout the city. The project evolved through ethnographic and experimental design methods and resulted in a working electronic prototype tested in a public square in Göteborg. Our approach and prototype are described in this paper, along with a preliminary user experience evaluation. FMS is a technologically-based cultural system that augments urban environments and animal behaviours to support local communications and communities.