A place to see pigeons flying (5)

I believe the answer is:

aloft

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'pigeons flying' is the definition.
'aloft' can be an answer for 'flying' (I've seen this in another clue). I'm not sure about the 'pigeons' bit.

'a place to see' is the wordplay.
'place' becomes 'ft' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'see' becomes 'lo' ('lo' is an archaic exclamation meaning 'look!').
'ft' put after 'lo' is 'loft'.
'a'+'loft'='ALOFT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aloft that I've seen before include "In the air, overhead" , "as 1 ac [PEGASUS] was?" , "Heading for heaven" , "in a high position" , "at high altitude" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app