Birds Aren’t Real protest flocks to Washington Square ParkConspiracy group Birds Aren’t Real held its largest protest to date to prove an avian surveillance state on Saturday, Oct. 15.Hundreds of participants crowded the north side of the park, holding signs that expressed a range of anti-avian sentiments, including “Birds Aren’t Real,” “Open Your Eyes,” “Pigeons Are Liars” and “Wake Up America.” Every time a flock of birds circled the Washington Square Arch, participants would boo.“I believe we alerted the people of New York City about three weeks ago that we will be here, but we’ve been everywhere — Chicago, Kansas, Los Angeles, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri,” said Claire Chronis, a self-proclaimed “public information officer” for Birds Aren’t Real.The CIA wiped them all out; the last bird was alive in 2001.”In a 2021 interview with the New York Times, McIndoe admitted that the movement intends to be an absurd reaction to internet misinformation — a place for “cosplaying conspiracy theorists” and embracing political madness.“The birds.”Counterprotesters, rumored to be hired actors, stood nearby with messages of their own: “Investigate Peter McIndoe,” and “We Demand Birds Aren’t Real’s Tax Returns.”“You look at the symbol of our country,” said Robert Bellah, the president of the counterprotest group Birds Are Real."