It’s a bird, it’s a plane - well actually, it can’t be a bird because birds aren't real. They’re drone replicas that are operated by the United States government to spy on American citizens.
Did birds ever exist? Yes. But the Birds Aren't Real movement - which has been active since 1976 according to its website - moved from a prevention campaign to an awareness campaign after the US government “mercilessly genocided over 12 billion birds”. Now the replicas “watch us every day” and the movement’s prerogative is to make us aware of that fact.
Is it a joke? Obviously. But for a second, 23-year-old Peter McIndoe, who goes by spokesperson, not creator, had some fooled with his conviction.
It started by accident in 2017 when Peter, a teenager at the time, thought it would be funny to show up to a rally with a poster that advocated for a totally unrelated cause.
Looking for something provocative and absurd, he wrote down, “birds aren’t real”. When he was asked by others what it meant, he rattled off some narrative as a “bird truther,” and it stuck.
He kept up the act for five years, in a character which seems like a mild proliferation of something comedian and writer Sacha Baron Cohen would construct.
Peter’s friend, Connor Gaydos, wrote the movement a fake history, fabricated “leaked” documents and helped create videos with phony CIA agents sharing the state’s deepest secret. They even have a billboard.
A billboard sponsored by the Birds Aren't Real movement that was erected in Memphis, Tennessee. Source: Creative Commons
At public speaking events, Peter dons a cowboy hat, suit, the “speed dealer” sunglasses that are already a meme, and a classic "conspiracy theory van" to go with the conspiracy.
On the outside of the van is a diagram with a first-generation bird-drone, the words “WAKE UP,” “BIRDS CHARGE ON POWER LINES,” “PIGEONS ARE LIARS,” “LIES,” and of course, “BIRDS AREN’T REAL”.
Placards at their rallies read “STOP LAUGHING” and “BIRD WATCHING GOES BOTH WAYS”.
Together, the friends seemed to tease the question: how ridiculous can we make this thing? While it’s unclear if anyone was convinced, it’s certain that some spectators and social media users thought that they really believed.
Now the co-conspirators tour the US, at least partially funded by t-shirt and merchandise sales, with rallies attracting hundreds of people. Last November, hundreds of adherents protested outside Twitter headquarters in San Francisco demanding that the company change its “offensive” bird logo.
Comments posted under a Birds Aren't Real Tik Tok. Source: Tik Tok/@birdsarentreal
On Instagram, @birdsarentreal has over 379,000 followers, and a loyal following has seen other “bird truthers” lead smaller clubs where they share the movement’s “lore”.
Brendan Trachsel, the president of Northern Arizona University’s chapter of the Birds Aren’t Real movement, talks to The Feed on his way back from teaching the “Feathered Gospel”. His is one of the many “chapters” or devoted clubs that run on campuses.
“We're just trying to get the word out, you know, and we do that through rallies. We do that through interviews like these,” said an in-character Brendan, who studies parks and recreation management at NAU.
“It’s really just having conversations with people because you know, if we can get people to question and do the research, I truly believe that we can change the world."
Fighting lunacy with ... lunacy?
Lydia Nelson, the vice president of the NAU club and a student of strategic communications and photojournalism, said for her it’s simple: “It’s just funny.”
She told The Feed it was Brendan who got her into the movement, adding that for other adherents, it’s a way of regaining control and joy when misinformation and conspiracy theories run rife. For all though, it is the embodiment of Gen Z humour.
Birds Aren't Real's creator Peter McIndoe (middle) with Brendan Traschel (right) and Lydia Nelson (left) who run the Northern Arizona University club. Source: Supplied
“In some ways, it's like its own language. I think that a lot of Gen Z feels madness and lunacy and I guess laughing at the lunacy or embodying it can be an interesting way to express what you feel,” Peter told VICE.
Lydia said the Arizona club started right before the 2020 US election, at a time when the university was filled with political activism.
“We saw a Trump table and a Biden table outside our student union, so we put ourselves in between them and started handing out ‘Birds Aren’t Real’ stickers," Lydia said.
Brendan Trachsel fan rallies on the Birds Aren't Real van. Source: Supplied
“Both tables came over to us and they're like, ‘We love what you're doing’. It was awesome, bringing together political parties.”
The Birds Aren’t Real campaign gives little nods to other conspiracy theories that have gripped the US and beyond.
One video boasting about hundreds of leaked emails called #Poultrygate is a reference to the debunked conspiracy theory #Pizzagate about Hillary Clinton that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, accusing her of running a child sex ring out of a pizza place.
Their posters and crowds ironically shout, “WAKE UP”, echoing the sentiments of other protestors who fight for the people and against the “sheeple”.
The clues are all there, but when he was asked by an American news anchor in 2019 if it was a joke, stone-faced Peter countered, “that’s kind of offensive”.
When Peter finally broke character last December in an interview with the New York Times and later in a documentary with VICE, his loyal following still kept up the farce, saying that the footage was a “deep fake” video i.e. a video made to look authentic.
In January he was back in character, with Peter telling his social media followers he was the victim of a “hit job” after choking on camera in a chaotic morning news interview when he was asked about the movement.
On Instagram, Peter said: “Mortified… I want to apologize to bird truthers everywhere. The one time the media gives us a platform to spread the truth with the public and I totally messed it up.”
But even fake conspiracies attract questionable people, Lydia said, with one person turning up to a rally with a taxidermied bird and another attending for months in a ski mask, but not saying a word.
“He doesn't come around anymore,” Lydia said.
Even with a satirical take, Lydia said it furrowed the brows of her boss, who questioned her involvement.
A Bird Aren't Real fan attends a rally with a taxidermied bird. Source: Supplied
“My boss messaged me privately and he's like, ‘when are you going to give up the bit?’” Lydia said.
“I just told him: ‘Do you think this is a f*cking bit?'”
