'Birds Aren't Real' Poster Appears On UWS: The Bizarre Backstory

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Have we all gotten duped?

A new sign appeared on the Upper West Side last week, and its message puzzled many.

The sign stuck to a pole on West 73rd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam reads, "BIRDS AREN'T REAL." It also includes, "Wake up, New York" along with a picture of a pigeon next to an equals sign with "GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE DRONE."

Totally normal things happening on the Upper West Side pic.twitter.com/nWIIIJg3bu
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) September 16, 2020

The head-scratching piece of paper also includes a website. Unsurprisingly, a quick trip to birdsarentreal.com does not disappoint.

The website is home to a parody conspiracy movement that claims the U.S. government killed birds from 1959 to 2001, and then replaced them with robotic replicas to keep a watching eye on humankind.

"Once a preventative cause, our initial goal was to stop the genocide of real birds. Unfortunately, this was unsuccessful, and the government has since replaced every living bird with robotic replicas. Now our movement's prerogative is to make everyone aware of this fact," says its "Who are we?" section on the Birds Aren't Real website.

The website outlines a detailed "history" of the movement. It ties the founding of Birds Aren't Real back to the CIA's "founding" purpose to watch and survey Americans suspected of participating in communism.

Continuing with the movement's folklore, it says President Dwight Eisenhower approved the idea and that the director of the CIA moved quickly to replace the birds with surveying robotic replicas.

Poop was also at the forefront of the decision to take out 12 billion birds, as directors within the organization were annoyed that birds had been pooping so much in Washington D.C., the site notes.

"In this meeting they sought to kill two birds with one stone and remove all birds from the United States (thus eliminating their fecal problem), but also replacing these birds with billions of sophisticated robot look a likes-capable of mimicking real birds in every way," a "History" section reads on the Birds Aren't Real website.

The website also has several videos to help explain the "movement."

The fake conspiracy movement was founded by Peter McIndoe, a former college student at the University of Arkansas.

According to the University of Arkansas student publication, Hill Magazine, McIndoe first held up the words Birds Aren't Real at the 2017 Women's March in Memphis, Tennessee.

"I'd always wanted to go to a rally and hold up a poster that had nothing to do with what the rally was about," McIndoe told Hill Magazine.

The attempt at satire ended up spreading far past downtown Memphis.

Birds Aren't Real has a staggering presence on social media. It is verified on Instagram with over 276,000 followers, and has another 60,000 followers on Twitter.

It's unclear for now whether more Birds Aren't Real posters will pop up throughout the Upper West Side, but the message is out: Pigeons are not to be trusted.

Birds Aren't Real ends its "Who are we?" section with the following sentiment: "We are the voice brave enough to cry out. We are the storm thundering across the horizon. We are the only hope this country has left."

More information about the parody movement is available on the Birds Aren't Real website. Also, Vice published a story about the anti-birders in August.