A woman’s funny observation about birds has taken over the internet, and it’s making people look around their own homes and laugh at what they find.
The woman, who goes by the TikTok username @corndogcalamari, is 31 years old, Vietnamese American, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She asked that her real name not be used.
On December 29, she posted a short video that quickly turned into one of the first big online trends of 2026. In the video, she shared what she jokingly calls her “bird theory,” which is based on something she noticed while visiting the homes of white friends and people she had dated.
She explained that over time, she kept seeing bird decorations in their homes. Not real birds, of course, but bird-themed décor.
She noticed metal bird sculptures, stuffed or preserved birds, paintings of birds, and small bird figurines placed around the house. She said these decorations often stood out because they were large or very noticeable. In one home, she even counted almost 50 bird decorations belonging to a man she was dating.
In her viral video, which has been watched more than half a million times, she looks straight at the camera and says that there is almost always a bird somewhere in a white person’s home. She makes it clear she’s not talking about pets, but decorations like statues, paintings, ornaments, or artwork.
She mentions seeing everything from steel chickens to paintings of seagulls and ducks. In her caption, she jokes that the average suburban white household probably has at least three bird-themed decorations, and that’s not even counting bird feeders outside.
She later told Newsweek that she has noticed this trend mostly among older people. To test her theory, she tried it on a friend who is both Asian and white. At first, the friend insisted she didn’t have any bird décor at all. But after thinking about it, she realized she did have one bird decoration, and it had been given to her by her white grandmother.
The video sparked a huge reaction online. Many people rushed to the comments to agree with her. One person joked that they had no birds in their home and asked if they were “doing being white wrong.” Just minutes later, that same person came back to admit they had completely forgotten about an owl statue they owned.
Others joined in with humor of their own. One commenter wrote that they were a Black autistic person whose special interest is birds, and that their collection of more than 500 bird decorations was single-handedly balancing the statistics. The trend quickly spread, with other TikTok creators using the original audio while walking around their homes to check for hidden birds.
One creator, Britt, who posts under the name @listenwithbritt, got nearly 300,000 likes on her video. As the original audio plays, she shows books, photos, and decorations around her house, confidently thinking she has no bird décor at all.
Then, looking slightly embarrassed, she reveals her bedroom wallpaper, which is covered in dozens of birds. Britt later said she found it hilarious because she truly believed she had no bird decorations, only to realize her entire bedroom wall was full of them.
Other videos followed the same pattern. One user proudly showed off various ornaments before finally revealing gold discs on her table decorated with birds.
Another admitted she thought her home was bird-free until she remembered her lamp was shaped like a peacock. In another clip, a woman confidently said she had no bird décor, only to zoom in on several dressed-up rubber ducks sitting on her shelf.
The creator of the trend told Newsweek that her favorite part has been watching people initially deny the idea, only to slowly realize they do, in fact, own bird decorations. She said it’s been fun seeing people become more self-aware and laugh at themselves. She’s also amused by how creative and unexpected some of the bird décor has been.
She added that she may have noticed this pattern because she is a person of color and feels like an outsider looking in. She pointed out that while she grew up with real parakeets as pets, her family never decorated their home with bird-themed items.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time a “bird theory” has gone viral. In 2025, a completely different bird-related trend spread online, this time focused on relationships.
That version involved telling your partner you saw a bird and judging their response. If they asked questions or showed interest, it supposedly meant they cared about the relationship. If they brushed it off, people took it as a bad sign.
A relationship expert later warned people not to take that theory too seriously. He explained that someone’s reaction in the moment might have more to do with stress, exhaustion, or being busy than with how they truly feel about their partner.
For now, though, the new bird theory is mostly about humor and shared self-reflection. It has turned into a lighthearted way for people to laugh at their homes, their habits, and the little decorative choices they never really thought about before.
