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I believe that pigeons are used to spy on people. I think the government can use pigeons to track down and collect more evidence from suspects of crimes. Also that they can use pigeons to spy on other countries during war.

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Birds used for government spies.

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Why do pigeons roam the streets? Well, maybe it's because they're just hungry looking for food or maybe it's because they're watching us. Ever go to a really big city and notice many more pigeons on the ground? That's a reason for people to believe they're spies. Yes, there is more people, more liter, and more food available for them, but why not in the country, or in a county? The belief is that the government uses pigeons in big cities, where a threat could be present, to keep watch for any possible attack. The government legally is unable to watch citizens from smart devices, but as many know now that they do anyways, though phones and the internet. So why not continue spying on residents with bird drones.

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I think this source isn't very credible, but it could be depending on where they got the facts. It is a type of news paper article that could be opinionated.

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If you live in New York City, or any city for that matter, you run into pigeons every day. At the bagel cart, walking home, or even in the subway, pigeons aren't escapable. Whether you view them as "the rats of the sky," as New York City Park Commissioner Thomas C. Fields, referred to them as, or just animals surviving, is a personal view.

However, there may be something these so called rats of the sky may be hiding- they may be government spies. While this may seem like a pretty illogical claim, there are a couple key points that have lots of people questioning if pigeons truly are just street wanderers.

Brought up originally by a viral post on Reddit , the movement has spread and raised eyebrows worldwide. Other memes have also addressed the topic, with questions surrounding baby pigeons and if they are real or not.

People at the iSchool have their own opinions on the topic as well.

Sophomore Dylan Volotsenko says that he's never seen a baby pigeon, but thinks "they must be hiding in their nests all day, that's why we don't see them."

Chanzlah Julien has a differing opinion: "I really don't know they [baby pigeons] be at." When asked if he believed if birds are government spies, he appeared confused at first, but then responded "Yeah, because they're around us 24/7. There's never a time where you don't see a pigeon around you."

If it did come out to be confirmed that these so called rats of the skies were in fact tools that are used to spy on everyday people, America wouldn't be the first nation to be pursuing a "hiding in plain sight" tactic of security. China has reportedly launched a spy drone that looks exactly like a bird to watch over the nations cities.

Pigeons have been used for multiple operations in the past, like carrying important messages during times of war, specifically in World War 1 and 2. iSchool Sophomore Ronald Noel Jr. uses this point as reasoning as to why pigeons are operatives under the government. : "Lowkey I think they do, there's always a pigeon around a person, I know they used pigeons for stuff in World War II as well."

Due to the pigeon's flight speed as well as the ability to fly at certain altitudes, it was perfect for nations to use these birds to communicate with each other during times of war. However, it's been revealed that pigeons weren't only uses as means for communication. They were used as spies during the Cold War to spy on Russia, according to this Smithsonian article. If the government had the ability to use pigeons to spy on others decades ago, what's stopping them from doing it at this very instant?

Or, maybe they've already been doing it. Maybe it's been just like China the entire time, where there are bird-like drones scanning us from the height of skyscrapers, blind to us in a time where we always have our heads looking down at our phones.

Regardless, if pigeons truly have their eyes on us whenever people are out on the street, it raises some massive security questions. In a time where just a few internet searches can reveal information about someone's entire life- you have to question whether eyes truly are on you all the time.

With more and more legislation coming out which takes away privacies that Americans have, it comes into question that if pigeons truly are being used as a watch on the public, is it for security or is it just blatantly spying?

While some arguments can be brought up on both sides, with allegations that governments like the NSA have been violating the 4th Amendment by tapping into phone calls, text messages, and other messaging apps without knowledge of the user. With more and more people connected to the internet each day, is the collection of data's intent mainly for keeping the public safe, or searching in hopes to find something suspicious and convict them for it?

Unfortunately though, it usually ends up that the government goes into people's private lives after they've been convicted, meaning that all these privacy restrictions seem to be useless anyway.

If these pigeons truly are watch drones, they must be pretty ineffective in the first place. Just imagine your sole job is to be watching over the people of an 8 million, but instead you're casually flying around the city, and instead of looking for criminals you're looking for the biggest piece of food on the street. While one of these may not be bad, flocks of pigeons seem to be fighting over a small piece of food. So maybe these rats of the sky aren't as intelligent as once thought.

However, this shouldn't let people be off their guard. Next time you see a flock of pigeons attacking a bagel, keep in mind that their eyes may not just be on a New York delicacy- they may also be on you.

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If you live in New York City, or any city for that matter, you run into pigeons every day. At the bagel cart, walking home, or even in the subway, pigeons aren't escapable. Whether you view them as "the rats of the sky," as New York City Park Commissioner Thomas C.

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This source I believe is not credible because it could be over exaggerating, but in my opinion I believe it is true.

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The bird was seized on Thursday after being spotted carrying a "stamped message" on its body.

The message was written partly in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. It also contained a Pakistani phone number, according to reports.

The bird was discovered by a 14-year-old boy in the village of Manwal, around two miles from the border.

He took it to the nearest police station where the bird was X-rayed.

Although police confirmed nothing unusual was found they "have kept the bird in our custody", according to one senior local officer. The bird has been logged as a "suspected spy" in the area's official police diary.

"This is a rare instance of a bird from Pakistan being spotted here. We have caught a few spies here. The area is sensitive, given its proximity to Jammu, where infiltration is quite common," local police superintendent Rakesh Kaushal told the Times of India.

The area where the bird was found sits close to Jammu and Kashmir, an area which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, and is the scene of regular military exchanges.

But pigeons as spies? It wouldn't be the first time.

In fact until relatively recently carrier pigeons were the safest way of transmitting secretive information. You can't hack into a bird, and they blend into the background well. In fact, animals have a rich history as spies.

The Bletchingley pigeon

In 2012, David Martin was ripping out his fireplace at his home in Bletchingley, Surrey. Inside, he found a carrier pigeon with a coded message in a capsule on its leg.

Historians think the bird was almost certainly dispatched from Nazi-occupied France in June 1944, during the D-Day landings.

The contents of the message were a complete mystery, though. It was passed to Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the hope a professional codebreaker could decipher the words.

In the end the message was so well disguised the government had to call on second world war cryptographers to come out of retirement to help.

The message was eventually cracked months later by a Canadian team, who discovered it was sent by a British paratrooper, Sergeant William Stott, who had been parachuted in behind enemy lines. The message said that he had landed and was checking in with RAF Bomber Command.

Operation 'Acoustic Kitty'

In the 1960s the CIA spent more than $20m (that's over £100m in today's money) creating a cyborg cat spy. The cat was surgically altered so that it had a battery pack in its chest, a microphone in its ear, and an antenna running along its spine and tail.

The cats were trained to brush up against the legs of Soviet embassy staff, therefore recording and transmitting their conversations.

It was ambitious, but useless. It's widely believed the first time a cat was put into the field, it was immediately hit and killed by a taxi.

Historians have since disputed this, saying the cats couldn't be effectively trained and the programme was cancelled as a result.

The mayor of Hartlepool

In 2002, H'Angus the Monkey, the town's football mascot, was elected mayor of Hartlepool.

Under the suit was a man called Stuart Drummond, who operated as mayor in his true capacity.

But why H'Angus the Monkey?

Legend has it that during the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815), a monkey was found on the beach in the North East England town after a French ship was wrecked off the coast.

Since the locals had never seen a Frenchman before and the monkey couldn't answer their questions, they assumed the monkey was both a Frenchman and a spy and executed him. The people of Hartlepool have slightly been known as "monkey hangers" ever since.

The story probably isn't true, though. It's most likely to come from a 19th century parody called The Monkey Song.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube and you can now follow BBC_Newsbeat on Snapchat

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Pakistani 'spy pigeon' arrested in India

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The bird was seized on Thursday after being spotted carrying a "stamped message" on its body. The message was written partly in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. It also contained a Pakistani phone number, according to reports. The bird was discovered by a 14-year-old boy in the village of Manwal, around two miles from the border.

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I believe that this source is credible because it is from a history based website. It has a credible author and has many facts.

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When James Bond needed nifty espionage gadgets, like a Rolex-turned-circular-saw or a peel-off fake fingerprint, he could count on the Q branch of the British Secret Service. When American operatives need to snap photos on the down-low or transmit a secret code, they have the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Research and Development working the tech angles. The agency's Langley museum, which isn't open to the public (but which can be explored via a Flickr account), displays mostly quainter examples of Cold War-era spycraft-presumably because the supercool Bond-like gear is still in use. Below, some classic tools of the trade and a few also-rans.

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Pigeon Cameras and Other CIA Cold War Spy Gear

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When James Bond needed nifty espionage gadgets, like a Rolex-turned-circular-saw or a peel-off fake fingerprint, he could count on the Q branch of the British Secret Service. When American operatives need to snap photos on the down-low or transmit a secret code, they have the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Research and Development working the tech angles.

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Chicago is one of the cities in our country that believes pigeons aregovernment spies. They believe that in area 51 the government trains and implants camera on pigeons. Many streets along Chicago have propoganda to pursuade people to believe this. The posters put up around the city state " Pigeons aren't real" showing a picture of a pigeons next to and equal sign that says government issued drone.

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If you live in Chicago feel free to print out these flyers. Hang them around your neighborhood, give them to your grandma, drop them off a really tall building. Anything to help spread the feathered...

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During the Cold War there is beliefs and statements stating that the government used pigeons to spy on other countries. It is believed during this time the U.S. government trained pigeons on where to fly, and where to stand so they are able to spy. The pigeons were said to have cameras attached to their body to see the enemy, and audio to be able to listen to conversations.

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I do believe my conspiracy theory is true. Although there could be reasons why it is not true. I did research to try to find opposing views, but I didn't have any luck. Some could say, pigeons are just birds who roam wherever they like. Pigeons could be the smart birds of the world that populate big cities to get more food from the people. This could be a reason why someone would believe pigeons are not spies. They populate cities for food, sit on window sills for views and stay calm around people because they're used to them.

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This source is credible in my opinion because it is a well known cite by people all over the world with great facts about any cituation.

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The CIA assassinated John F. Kennedy after he refused to kill and replace billions of birds with drones. The U.S. government is sequestering a team of Boeing engineers in Area 51 for a secret military mission. Our tax dollars have been funneled into building the "Turkey X500," a robot used to hunt large birds.

Combine all these conspiracies and you get Birds Aren't Real, a nearly two-year-old movement that claims the CIA took out 12 billion feathered fugitives because directors within the organization were "annoyed that birds had been dropping fecal matter on their car windows." The targets were eradicated between 1959 and 1971 with specially altered B-52 bombers stocked with poison. They were then supplanted with avian-like robots that could be used to surveil Americans.

Sounds extreme but also somewhat fitting, given the landscape of today's social discourse. By surfacing murky bits of history and the ubiquity of Aves , Birds Aren't Real feeds into this era of post-truth politics. The campaign relies on internet-fueled guerilla marketing to spread its message, manifesting through real-world posters and Photoshopped propaganda tagged with the "Birds Aren't Real" slogan.

For much of its devoted fanbase, Birds Aren't Real is a respite from America's political divide-a joke so preposterous both conservatives and liberals can laugh at it. But for a few followers, this movement is no more unbelievable than QAnon, a right-wing conspiracy theory turned marketing ploy that holds that someone with high-level government clearance is planting coded tips in the news. Therein lies the genius of Birds Aren't Real: It's a digital breadcrumb trail that leads to a that leads to a shop full of ready-to-buy merchandise.

The creative muscle behind the avian-inspired conspiracy (and thinly disguised marketing scheme) is 20-year-old Peter McIndoe, an English and philosophy major at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. McIndoe first went live with Birds Aren't Real in January 2017 at his city's Women's March. A video from the event shows McIndoe with a crudely drawn sign, heckling protesters with lines like, "Birds are a myth; they're an illusion; they're a lie. Wake up America! Wake up!" The idea of selling Birds Aren't Real goods, he says, came after the stunt gained traction over Instagram.

McIndoe didn't break character once during a 30-minute-long phone interview with Audubon . He defended the movement's legitimacy, mainly by proselytizing about what Birds Aren't Real isn't . "The thought that this could be used to make a satire of a dark and tense time in American culture-I find those things to be baloney," McIndoe says.

What isn't baloney is the attention Birds Aren't Real has drawn on social media, thanks to an Instagram account with more than 50,000 followers, a YouTube page with more than 45,000 views, and a Twitter profile with nearly 8,500 followers . McIndoe handles all these accounts and fulfills every order for the Birds Aren't Real goods he sells online. He declined to comment on how much money he's made off the T-shirts, hats, and stickers, many of which are out of stock.

Exploiting conspiracists for profit is nothing new, says Mike Metzler, a social media influencer and viral-content creator on Instagram . Amazon sells dozens of styles of QAnon T-shirts that have become a fixture at Make America Great Again rallies around the country. What's different is that while many QAnon believers wear their shirts in earnest, most Birds Aren't Real fans seem to wear theirs to be ironic and on trend .

"Birds Aren't Real is taking advantage of the meme-ification of previous conspiracy theories," Metzler says. "People really want to believe in conspiracies-but more than that, people want to make fun of people who believe in conspiracies even more. Starting a conspiracy theory and selling Birds Aren't Real merchandise allows them to sell to both sides," Metzler says.

McIndoe's movement got a free jolt of publicity on October 30 after Chicago-based journalist Robert Loerzel tweeted a photo of a Birds Aren't Real flier he found on the street. The same flier also popped up on Reddit numerous times over the . The hectic and cryptic nature of the website makes it an incubator for conspiracy theories like QAnon. The Reddit forum r/conspiracy has 721,000 anonymous subscribers alone.

Message in a Chicago newspaper box pic.twitter.com/wtb9e0h62X
- Robert Loerzel (@robertloerzel) October 30, 2018

While some people will draw parallels between QAnon and Birds Aren't Real (they were both launched in 2017, after all), their popularity on Reddit is the only true similarity, says Brooke Binkowski, managing editor of the myth-busting website TruthOrFiction.com and the former managing editor of Snopes . "Birds Aren't Real is a good one, but it in no way ranks up there with the incredible complexity of whatever QAnon is," she says over email. "QAnon has caught on because it's interactive, it's always evolving, and it's completely vague-so vague that anything they say could be 'true' if you interpret it the right way."

How could Birds Aren't Real gain more dark-web cred then? "Conspiracy theories offer a way for the world to make sense, and they offer a sense of purpose to the purposeless," Binkowski writes. "If Birds Aren't Real hinted at some larger, dark pattern, it would really take flight."

For now, though, this shallow conspiracy seems harmless and may even be a net gain for birds. Jordan Rutter, the director of public relations at the American Bird Conservancy , thinks the intricate history behind McIndoe's movement is hilarious and thus, something positive. "Anything that gets people talking about birds is a good thing," she says. "It's definitely a way we can start a conversation."

The filmmaker Oliver Stone that Kennedy's assassination is "a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma." Birds Aren't Real, on the other hand, is a chimera of conspiracies that wraps satire, modern insecurities, and internet culture into a successful marketing scheme.
*** Birds are real! For proof, , which features more than 800 actual North American species.

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Are Birds Actually Government-Issued Drones? So Says a New Conspiracy Theory Making Waves (and Money)

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Hatched by a 20-year-old college student, the Birds Aren't Real movement has drawn intrigue and scorn on Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter.