Nairobi, Kenya – Shouts of “Birdman! Birdman!” trail 27-year-old Rodgers Oloo Magutha down a street in the centre of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

Vendors pause mid-sale, police glance away from traffic, and pedestrians abruptly stop to watch the man crowned with raptors on his head and shoulders. Children burst into giggles or shrink back in fear as crowds gather, phones raised like paparazzi.

Magutha has lived on Nairobi’s streets for years, one among the many children and youth asking for coins from hurried passersby. He blends in with this marginalised community in every way but one: the wild birds surrounding him.

“Many people feel unsafe when approached by us, they will even hide their phones,” Magutha says about the general public’s reaction to his street family.

“But when they see

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