by Pigeon Patrol | May 30, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
A young woman in Fredericton is singing on the street to call attention to the disease that made her blind.
Erica Richards lost her sight last year after developing Cryptococcus meningitis.
Cryptococcus meningitis is a potentially fatal swelling of the membranes surrounding the brain. The disease is caused by fungus that lives in the guts of pigeons and other birds, such as chickens.
People can breathe it in if they’re exposed to pigeon droppings.
The 24-year-old was living in a house that had a pile of pigeon feces in the attic, and she also had a compromised immune system from chemotherapy .
“A reverse migraine — I needed light, I needed sound. I needed neck massages. Couldn’t lay down, couldn’t sit up. Couldn’t eat. I was vomiting. And then I started having double vision, quadruple vision, then seizures. And then I ended up in hospital,” she said as she described her symptoms.
Richards sings to supplement her $135 a month disability payment.
Kevin Forward is an infectious disease specialist who teaches at Dalhousie Medical School in Halifax.
“I think it’s pretty common sense. Move to avoid being in a situation where there are a lot of pigeon droppings, particularly if you’re disturbing them, cleaning them up, sweeping them,” Forward said.
“Those kind of situations should certainly be avoided. But if you’re in the park that has some pigeons around, I think the risk is infinitely small.”
Pigeons are part of the urban landscape, but they are known to carry a long list of disease-causing organisms — such as Chlamydia and salmonella.
That, along with complaints about them damaging roofs, led Fredericton to add pigeons to the city’s animal control bylaw last year.
Property owners are now prohibited from spreading feed or anything else that would attract pigeons.
Richards wants to make sure people know the risk of coming into contact with pigeon feces.
“To draw attention, to raise awareness so people will ask questions, so they will know what the symptoms are,” Richards said. “So that way, they can be warned ahead of time, before what happened to me happens to them.”
Next month, she’ll be going to a school sponsored by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to finish high school and to get matched with a seeing-eye dog.
She hopes to go on to study law.
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird
deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosing / Vancouver Pigeon Control / Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / PIgeon Deterrent / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons / What to do about pigeons / sparrows, Damage by Sparrows, How to Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests / De-fence / Pigeon Nesting / Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping / woodpecker control / Professional Bird Control Company / Keep The Birds Away / Birds/rats/seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/pidgeon control/flying rats/pigeon problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | May 30, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
In the span of a few weeks, Erica Richards has been transformed from a vibrant 23-year-old woman who loved nature to a person battling for her life.
In early January, the Fredericton woman contracted a potentially fatal condition called cryptococcal meningitis, a fungal disease carried in the feces of pigeons.
The debilitating illness attacks the spine and brain, causing severe swelling. It left her confined to a hospital bed in a state of delirium for weeks.
But the most devastating side effect is that Ms. Richards is now blind.
“Be aware of this disease. It could kill a child in a heartbeat,” Ms. Richards said in an interview from her hospital bed.
“It could kill a senior in a heartbeat without you even having to worry about the symptoms. It comes on that fast. If you don’t realize the symptoms, it could kill you, too.”
Her emotional warning comes on the heels of city council’s approval earlier this month of a recommendation that it toughen its animal control bylaw to allow for fines for feeding pigeons. Once the amendment is drafted and declared law, it will give the city’s bylaw enforcement officers the power to ticket and fine offenders.
Ms. Richards said she decided to go public about her illness after learning about a recent newspaper story about a problem with pigeon poop in the city.
“Please don’t feed the pigeons,” she said. “Try to shoo them away if you see them. … It (the disease) is horrible. The pain that you get from this disease is crippling.
“The after-effects are with you for life and you just can’t stop thinking about it. I just want other people to know and try to stay away from pigeons.”
Oddly enough, Ms. Richards said she has no recollection of ever being anywhere near pigeons.
“I am still wondering to this day where I got it,” she said. “I could have stepped in it and brought it into the home. I just don’t know.”
Ms. Richards said the symptoms started with a migraine headache that wouldn’t go away. She was admitted to hospital on Feb. 10 after many days of intense head pain. Shortly after, she went into a coma-like state.
“When I woke up I thought I had a mask over my eyes, but I was wrong. I was blind. I was recently told that I will be blind for the rest of my life. This is a tough thing for a 23-year-old to go through. … My world crumbled around me.”
Ms. Richards said the odds of surviving the disease are 50-50.
“However, I managed to make it through,” she said, battling tears. “I don’t know how but I am still here, and I am glad because I get to warn everyone else of this.”
Cristin Muecke, the Health Department’s regional medical officer, confirmed the disease is often associated with pigeon droppings. She said the illness can’t be spread person to person and is more common with someone who has immune problems.
Ms. Richards, however, said she has never had a problem with her immune system and that’s what’s so puzzling about contracting the affliction.
“I do not want anyone else to suffer this agonizing disease and I ask anyone who is feeding pigeons to stop,” she said. “It’s not just a matter of keeping your neighbourhood clean … it’s a matter of keeping people healthy.”
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird
deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosing / Vancouver Pigeon Control / Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / PIgeon Deterrent / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons / What to do about pigeons / sparrows, Damage by Sparrows, How to Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests / De-fence / Pigeon Nesting / Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping / woodpecker control / Professional Bird Control Company / Keep The Birds Away / Birds/rats/seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/pidgeon control/flying rats/pigeon problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | May 30, 2023 | Bird Spike, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News
Some people enjoy spending time around pigeons in parks or sidewalks and feeding them seeds or bread crumbs, while others see pigeons as pests that harbor dangerous diseases. No matter whether you love pigeons or hate them, they do spread diseases that can infect humans. Psittacosis is one of these diseases. Occasionally being around pigeons is unlikely to lead to infection. But certain circumstances surrounding homes and businesses can put people at risk of becoming infected. So it’s important to learn about the symptoms and how pigeons spread psittacosis.
What Is Psittacosis?
Psittacosis is a respiratory illness that humans obtain from a type of bacteria (Chlamydia psittaci ) shed by birds. Sometimes called parrot fever or ornithosis, the disease can affect many different species of birds. Infected birds can become very sick or show no symptoms at all, making it difficult to know if surrounding people are at risk. Whether birds have symptoms or not, they can still pass the disease to people and other mammals.
Infected birds with and without symptoms shed the bacteria in respiratory secretions and droppings. When these secretions and droppings dry, they form dust that spreads through the air and can be inhaled into human respiratory systems. People get the disease by breathing in dried dust particles — that’s how pigeons spread psittacosis. However, it can be spread through bites or beak-to-mouth contact.
People of any age can contract psittacosis, but it’s most common among bird owners or people who work in bird-related occupations. However, psittacosis in pigeons can present additional points of infection. The illness has a rapid transmission rate among birds and thrives in overcrowded areas, like roosting spaces and nests. So it’s likely that massive flock outbreaks occur among pigeons.
Psittacosis Symptoms
Most often, psittacosis symptoms are similar to flu symptoms. However, symptoms can become severe and include pneumonia. If you suspect you’ve been infected with psittacosis, it’s necessary to seek medical attention since antibiotic treatment is required. Symptoms may include:
- • Dry cough
- • Fever
- • Chills
- • Headache
- • Muscle aches
- • Nausea/vomiting
- • Sore throat
- • Difficulty breathing in severe cases
- • Chest pain in severe cases
- • Pneumonia in severe cases
- • Nosebleeds in severe cases
- • Swelling of organs in severe cases
Treatment
Psittacosis is considered rare in humans since only 50 to 200 cases each year are reported. However, many researchers think the illness is under-reported; the symptoms mimic common illnesses like the flu, and the point of infection often goes unnoticed. Severe cases of psittacosis require medical treatment for recovery. Antibiotic therapy is the primary treatment for individuals with psittacosis (typically tetracycline or doxycycline).
How Pigeons Spread Psittacosis
While people also call psittacosis ‘parrot disease,’ any bird susceptible to the bacteria can spread infection. Since pigeons travel and roost in large flocks, it’s likely that the disease spreads readily among pigeons in crowded areas. Sick birds can exhibit symptoms like red, watery eyes, nasal discharge, lethargy, ruffled feathers, diarrhea, and a poor appetite. Alternatively, they can exhibit no symptoms at all. It’s suspected that pigeons have genetic resistance that makes them more likely to show no symptoms and, consequently, become carriers.
In many cities, workspaces, and areas around homes, pigeons roost in large groups and leave piles of feces that must be cleaned away regularly. These areas create potential infection points for people. Once you know how pigeons spread psittacosis, you can focus on maintenance tasks that minimize the risks.
Psittacosis Dangers for Homeowners
Pigeons are common in both urban and rural areas. Unfortunately, when they decide to infest the space around your home, you might find them roosting over your patio, on your children’s play equipment, or even in your attic. If you have pigeons roosting around your home, they leave piles of droppings anywhere they flock. After what you’ve learned about how pigeons spread psittacosis, imagine sweeping piles of dried droppings from your patio — or worse, your attic. When pigeons spend their nights or evenings on playhouses or swing sets, they put your children at risk of getting psittacosis when they go outside to play.
Short of avoiding the spaces you enjoy outdoors, it’s nearly impossible to completely eliminate the risk of psittacoses exposure when you have a pigeon infestation. The solution is deterrence. Visual bird deterrents include lights, holographic devices, and decoy owls or other decoy predators that can be used to frighten pigeons away from your home and yard. Audio bird deterrents work best for residences without pets. They use distress calls and frightening noise to scare birds away.
Psittacosis in Commercial Settings
Commercial properties are even more likely than homes to attract flocking pigeons. If you’ve dealt with pigeons at your business property, you know all the spaces where they leave piles of droppings (and the damage they can cause). As a business owner, you know bird droppings and the health risks of psittacosis present a variety of worries. Droppings on storefronts, trash cans, streetlights, sidewalks, parking lots, railings, and any of the other places pigeons roost have the potential to endanger your customers and employees, as well as your own health. Even worse, when pigeons get inside your commercial building, they can pose additional threats by accessing your storage.
As a business owner, you have a responsibility to keep your landscape and business clean. But cleaning away bird droppings can present risks. OSHA recommends precautions to protect workers from contracting the disease through inhalation. However, deterrence can help you avoid all the problems associated with pigeons and their effect on commercial spaces. While visual and audio deterrents are useful in commercial settings, other measures might also be required. Bird spikes and optical gel are both popular solutions for deterring pigeons in commercial spaces.
Learning about how pigeons spread psittacosis and the dangers caused by pigeon droppings can help you understand the disease’s symptoms and ways you can avoid infection. Safely and humanely deterring pigeon flocks is the best way to avoid dangers from their droppings and the damage they cause around your home or business. To learn more about psittacosis and other diseases that can be spread in pigeon droppings, get in touch with our bird control experts.
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird
deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosing / Vancouver Pigeon Control / Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / PIgeon Deterrent / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons / What to do about pigeons / sparrows, Damage by Sparrows, How to Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests / De-fence / Pigeon Nesting / Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping / woodpecker control / Professional Bird Control Company / Keep The Birds Away / Birds/rats/seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/pidgeon control/flying rats/pigeon problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | May 23, 2023 | Bird Spike, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News
Pigeons are always on the lookout for a source of food and buildings with plenty of high nooks and crannies to roost and nest in, and your factory might just fit the bill.
But if pigeons get into your factory, it’s a serious problem. These pest birds and their guano (poo) carry and spread some nasty diseases, and they can also damage property. This is bad news for any business, but if food is manufactured, packaged, and stored in your factory, it can be disastrous.
Before your reputation and your profits take a serious hit, read our advice on how you can keep pigeons out of your factory.
How to prevent pigeons from getting into your factory
First, eliminate any sources of food
Any sources of food will be very attractive to pigeons, and eliminating them will make your factory less desirable to roost or nest in. Keep your factory scrupulously clean and don’t leave food ingredients or waste lying around, inside or outside of the premises.
It’s also a good idea to talk to nearby businesses if their poor waste management or housekeeping practices are attracting pest birds to the vicinity.
Second, use deterrents
When you are trying to prevent pigeons from nesting or roosting in or on your property, deterrents like bird spikes, bird wire, and netting can be effective at keeping them at bay.
Third, fix up your factory
If there are holes in your factory roof or walls that you haven’t got around to fixing, you could inadvertently be providing pigeons with the perfect nesting place. Make sure you fix them up-deterring pigeons is all about making your factory much less attractive to them.
Finally, deal with the guano
As we mentioned earlier, pigeon droppings can contain some harmful bacteria, so we would recommend that you don’t try to clean it up yourself.
If pest pigeons have made a mess of your factory, call in the professionals. We will blast away guano with the right equipment and products so your premises is clean, safe, and hygienic again.
Do I need professional pigeon control for my factory?
As birds are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it’s illegal to poison or shoot them if you don’t have a license. If you put poison down, you could harm other birds and end up in legal trouble. And not only that, if you’re a food business, you won’t be able to use toxic bird control methods anyway as you could contaminate your product.
If you hire professional pest control, you can get your pest problem dealt with fast. We can deal with any existing infestation, install effective bird-proofing and deterrents, and give you expert advice on preventing any problems in the future.
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird
deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosing / Vancouver Pigeon Control / Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / PIgeon Deterrent / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons / What to do about pigeons / sparrows, Damage by Sparrows, How to Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests / De-fence / Pigeon Nesting / Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping / woodpecker control / Professional Bird Control Company / Keep The Birds Away / Birds/rats/seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/pidgeon control/flying rats/pigeon problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | May 18, 2023 | Bird Spike, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons
Pigeons are among the most common birds we encounter in our daily lives, yet their biology is surprisingly complex. Their adaptability and digestive capabilities allow them to thrive in a wide range of habitats, making them resilient. Biological facts include:
- Pigeons remain with their flocks and mostly eat in groups.
- They wag their heads back and forth as they strut about.
- They are strong, quick fliers, thanks to their long wings and powerful flight muscles.
And here’s one to stump your technicians and customers: Did you know they are one of the only bird species capable of sipping water, rather than having to bend their head back to enable it to flow down their throat?
Pigeons terrifying child
FAMILY BEHAVIORS
Pigeons have been observed to be monogamous and exhibit a high degree of parental care:
- They usually lay only one or two eggs at a time, and they hatch after only 17 to 20 days.
- Young pigeons are fed “crop milk” from both male and female parents. This is a white substance secreted on a mature pigeon’s crop, which is basically an enlarged part of the esophagus.
Once these fledglings reach four to six weeks of age, they leave their parents’ nests for good. But before these youngsters have left the nest, more eggs are laid. This occurs during all four seasons, meaning that pigeon numbers increase drastically the longer they are left to their own devices.
Still, these young pigeons remain with the flock and continue to utilize lofts, attics and other concealed locations in and around structures as their roosting spots after they have fled the nest.
A PUBLIC HEALTH PEST
Because of their rapidly increasing numbers, pigeons rely heavily on humans for their food sources, as well as roosting and nesting sites. These birds only require 1 ounce of water per day, meaning just a small amount of stagnant water or snow is all they need. Pigeons in rural regions feed on seed and grain frequently, posing a major problem for farmers. In urban settings, they scavenge for whatever they can find — from littered food in streets and sidewalks to open dumpsters. The more improperly stored and disposed of food supply you provide, the more pigeons you will have.
While pigeons usually live up to 15 years in captivity, feral pigeons often only have a lifespan of 3 to 4 years. They often die of one of the various diseases they are known to carry, or else because of a predator.
Their nesting material, made up of twigs, leaves, and straw, is often reused for the whole year. It hardens after a few uses from their droppings, and is a serious health risk: Not only is the nest where their diseases can spread, it is also a perfect environment for bird mites. Left there long enough, the bird mites spread to whatever other suitable habitat they can find — and often, entire buildings.
Why do pigeons rely so much on humans to survive? There are two main reasons:
- The majority of the North American pigeon population originated from domesticated birds that had escaped. They became accustomed to relying on people for their food and water sources over time, and they stayed near us as a result.
- The various pigeon species have a common ancestor, whose original habitat was cliff sides and steep rock faces, resulting in the common name of “rock dove.” Cities with skyscrapers and tall buildings that provide ledges and overhangs for them to roost on are the closest thing they have to their native homes in many regions,. Thus, they stay there out of instinct.
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird
deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosing / Vancouver Pigeon Control / Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / PIgeon Deterrent / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons / What to do about pigeons / sparrows, Damage by Sparrows, How to Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests / De-fence / Pigeon Nesting / Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping / woodpecker control / Professional Bird Control Company / Keep The Birds Away / Birds/rats/seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/pidgeon control/flying rats/pigeon problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | May 18, 2023 | Bird Spike, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News
In Pittsburgh, Memphis and Los Angeles, massive billboards recently popped up declaring, “Birds Aren’t Real.”
On Instagram and TikTok, Birds Aren’t Real accounts have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers, and YouTube videos about it have gone viral.
Last month, Birds Aren’t Real adherents even protested outside Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco to demand that the company change its bird logo.
The events were all connected by a Gen Z-fueled conspiracy theory, which posits that birds don’t exist and are really drone replicas installed by the U.S. government to spy on Americans. Hundreds of thousands of young people have joined the movement, wearing Birds Aren’t Real T-shirts, swarming rallies and spreading the slogan.
It might smack of QAnon, the conspiracy theory that the world is controlled by an elite cabal of child-trafficking Democrats. Except that the creator of Birds Aren’t Real and the movement’s followers are in on a joke: They know that birds are, in fact, real and that their theory is made up.
What Birds Aren’t Real truly is, they say, is a parody social movement with a purpose. In a post-truth world dominated by online conspiracy theories, young people have coalesced around the effort to thumb their nose at, fight and poke fun at misinformation. It’s Gen Z’s attempt to upend the rabbit hole with absurdism.
“It’s a way to combat troubles in the world that you don’t really have other ways of combating,” said Claire Chronis, 22, a Birds Aren’t Real organizer in Pittsburgh. “My favorite way to describe the organization is fighting lunacy with lunacy.”
At the center of the movement is Peter McIndoe, 23, a floppy-haired college dropout in Memphis who created Birds Aren’t Real on a whim in 2017. For years, he stayed in character as the conspiracy theory’s chief believer, commanding acolytes to rage against those who challenged his dogma. But now, Mr. McIndoe said in an interview, he is ready to reveal the parody lest people think birds really are drones.
“Dealing in the world of misinformation for the past few years, we’ve been really conscious of the line we walk,” he said. “The idea is meant to be so preposterous, but we make sure nothing we’re saying is too realistic. That’s a consideration with coming out of character.”
Most Birds Aren’t Real members, many of whom are part of an on-the-ground activism network called the Bird Brigade, grew up in a world overrun with misinformation. Some have relatives who have fallen victim to conspiracy theories. So for members of Gen Z, the movement has become a way to collectively grapple with those experiences. By cosplaying conspiracy theorists, they have found community and kinship, Mr. McIndoe said.
“Birds Aren’t Real is not a shallow satire of conspiracies from the outside. It is from the deep inside,” he said. “A lot of people in our generation feel the lunacy in all this, and Birds Aren’t Real has been a way for people to process that.”
Cameron Kasky, 21, an activist from Parkland, Fla., who helped organize the March for Our Lives student protest against gun violence in 2018 and is involved in Birds Aren’t Real, said the parody “makes you stop for a second and laugh. In a uniquely bleak time to come of age, it doesn’t hurt to have something to laugh about together.”
Mr. McIndoe, too, marinated in conspiracies. For his first 18 years, he grew up in a deeply conservative and religious community with seven siblings outside Cincinnati, then in rural Arkansas. He was home-schooled, taught that “evolution was a massive brainwashing plan by the Democrats and Obama was the Antichrist,” he said.
He read books like “Remote Control,” about what it said were hidden anti-Christianity messages from Hollywood. In high school, social media offered a gateway to mainstream culture. Mr. McIndoe began watching Philip DeFranco and other popular YouTubers who talked about current events and pop culture, and went on Reddit to find new viewpoints.
“I was raised by the internet, because that’s where I ended up finding a lot of my actual real-world education, through documentaries and YouTube,” Mr. McIndoe said. “My whole understanding of the world was formed by the internet.”
By the time Mr. McIndoe left home for the University of Arkansas in 2016, he said, he realized he wasn’t the only young person forced to straddle multiple realities.
Then in January 2017, Mr. McIndoe traveled to Memphis to visit friends. Donald J. Trump had just been sworn in as president, and there was a women’s march downtown. Pro-Trump counterprotesters were also there. When Mr. McIndoe saw them, he said, he ripped a poster off a wall, flipped it over and wrote three random words: “Birds Aren’t Real.”
“It was a spontaneous joke, but it was a reflection of the absurdity everyone was feeling,” he said.
Mr. McIndoe then walked around and improvised the Birds Aren’t Real conspiracy lore. He said he was part of a greater movement that believed that birds had been replaced with surveillance drones and that the cover up began in the 1970s. Unbeknown to him, he was filmed and the video posted on Facebook. It went viral, especially among teenagers in the South.
In Memphis, “Birds Aren’t Real” graffiti soon showed up. Photos of the phrase’s being scrawled on chalkboards and the walls of local high schools surfaced. People made “Birds Aren’t Real” stickers.
Mr. McIndoe decided to lean into Birds Aren’t Real. “I started embodying the character and building out the world this character belonged to,” he said. He and Connor Gaydos, a friend, wrote a false history of the movement, concocted elaborate theories and produced fake documents and evidence to support his wild claims.
“It basically became an experiment in misinformation,” Mr. McIndoe said. “We were able to construct an entirely fictional world that was reported on as fact by local media and questioned by members of the public.”
Mr. Gaydos added, “If anyone believes birds aren’t real, we’re the last of their concerns, because then there’s probably no conspiracy they don’t believe.”
In 2018, Mr. McIndoe dropped out of college and moved to Memphis. To build Birds Aren’t Real further, he created a flyer that shot to the top of Reddit. He hired an actor to portray a former C.I.A. agent who confessed to working on bird drone surveillance; the video has more than 20 million views on TikTok. He also hired actors to represent adult bird truthers in videos that spread all over Instagram.
That same year, Mr. McIndoe began selling Birds Aren’t Real merchandise. The money, totaling several thousand dollars a month, helps Mr. McIndoe and Mr. Gaydos cover their living expenses.
“All the money from our merch lineup goes into making sure me and Connor can do this full time,” Mr. McIndoe said. “We also put the money into the billboards, flying out members of the Bird Brigade to rallies. None of the proceeds go to anything harmful.”
To adults with concerns about Mr. McIndoe’s tactics, researchers said any harms were most likely minimal.
“You have to weigh the potential negative effects with any of this stuff, but in this case it is so extremely small,” said Joshua Citarella, an independent researcher who studies internet culture and online radicalization in youth. “Allowing people to engage in collaborative world building is therapeutic because it lets them disarm conspiracism and engage in a safe way.”
Mr. McIndoe said he kept the concerns top of mind. “Everything we’ve done with Birds Aren’t Real is made to make sure it doesn’t tip into where it could have a negative end result on the world,” he said. “It’s a safe space for people to come together and process the conspiracy takeover of America. It’s a way to laugh at the madness rather than be overcome by it.”
The effort has been cathartic for young people including Heitho Shipp, 22, a Pittsburgh resident.
“Most conspiracy theories are fueled by hate or distrust or one powerful leader, but this is about finding an outlet for our pain,” she said. She added that the movement was “more about media literacy.”
Birds Aren’t Real members have also become a political force. Many often join up with counterprotesters and actual conspiracy theorists to de-escalate tensions and delegitimize the people they are marching alongside with irreverent chants.
In September, shortly after a restrictive new abortion law went into effect in Texas, Birds Aren’t Real members showed up at a protest held by anti-abortion activists at the University of Cincinnati. Supporters of the new law “had signs with very graphic imagery and were very aggressive in condemning people,” Mr. McIndoe said. “It led to arguments.”
But the Bird Brigade began chanting, “Birds aren’t real.” Their shouts soon overpowered the anti-abortion activists, who left.
Mr. McIndoe now has big plans for 2022. Breaking character is necessary to help Birds Aren’t Real leap to the next level and forswear actual conspiracy theorists, he said. He added that he hoped to collaborate with major content creators and independent media like Channel 5 News, which is aimed at helping people make sense of America’s current state and the internet.
“I have a lot of excitement for what the future of this could be as an actual force for good,” he said. “Yes, we have been intentionally spreading misinformation for the past four years, but it’s with a purpose. It’s about holding up a mirror to America in the internet age.”
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