The trend creator from Brooklyn, New York, told Newsweek: “Everyone seems to be gaining self-awareness and able to joke about it.“
A woman's theory about birds has gone viral, as people looked around their own homes and found evidence. TikTok user @corndogcalamari, who asked for her name not to be used, is 31 and Vietnamese American and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
On December 29, she sparked what has become one of the first major online trends of 2026, as she shared her “bird theory“ about the decor in white people's homes—and people are quickly learning there might just be something to it. As she told Newsweek: “I realized there was always bird decor over at my white friends’ houses and even at the houses of people whom I’ve dated. It was particularly noticeable because they’d often be large metal sculptures, taxidermied birds, or just something that stood out!“ In the video, viewed more than 500,000 times, the poster told the camera: “There is a bird somewhere in a white person's home. I'm not talking about a physical bird: I'm talking about sculptures, little figurines, paintings—just decor; bird decor.“ She recalled seeing steel sculptures of chickens, paintings of sea gulls, ducks and everything in between, one time counting almost 50 birds in the home of a man she was dating. “White people love birds,“ she wrote, adding in the caption: “The average suburban white household has at least three bird-centric decorations I swear. This isn't even considering the bird feeder.“ She told Newsweek that she has noticed it is “older“ people who have the decor, and recently tried out her theory on a friend of hers, who is both Asian and white. At first, her friend “thought she didn't have any bird decor, but then realized she had one that was gifted to her—by her white grandmother.“ The theory's creator speaks on camera, left; and, right, another user takes part in the trend. Her video had a major response, with many commenters agreeing she was right, including one who wrote: “Not a single bird in my home, did I white wrong?“—only for the user to return minutes later and add: “Nope never mind, I forgot I have an owl statuette.“ Another posted: “Black autistic person whose special interest is birds, me and my 500+ bird decorations are single-handedly leveling the demographic playing field.“ The woman's theory became a trend, with other video creators using her voice in their own videos as they checked their homes for birds. Britt, who posts to TikTok under the username @listenwithbritt, racked up close to 300,000 likes of her own as she took part in the trend. In Britt's video, @corndogcalamari's voice plays while Britt looks at all the different trinkets in her home: books, photographs, ornaments, but, so far, no birds. Britt then looks sheepish—and shows the wallpaper in her bedroom, on which there are literally dozens of birds. Britt told Newsweek: “I thought it was funny, because I didn't think I had any bird decor in my house. As I walked around the house, I learned I was indeed one of the white people who had bird decor—my entire wallpaper pattern birds in my bedroom!“ This is a recurring trend: user @ceewardrobe shows off her many trinkets, from Postman Pat figurines to classical ornaments, before finally revealing three golden discs sitting on her table featuring multiple birds. A video from @natalienjb sees her admit she “didn't think I had any birds in my home, then I remembered“—before showing her table lamp, which is in the shape of a peacock. And one clip from @moniqueeleskov saw her admit she was “so confident I didn't have a bird“—before zooming up on several dressed-up rubber ducks on her shelves. The trend creator told Newsweek she thinks it is “particularly funny seeing the comments from white folks initially denying this observation, and then realizing they have bird decor.“ “Everyone seems to be gaining self-awareness and able to joke about it. I'm also amused by the type of bird decor some people have!“ She added that she might be able to “notice the pattern“ as a person of color and “outsider“ to the trend, and said that she herself grew up with parakeets, “but never had any decor.“ Interestingly, this isn't the only “bird theory“ that has taken over the internet in recent times: in 2025, a relationship trend known as the bird theory exploded in popularity, as it supposedly said a lot about the type of relationship you were in. It involves a person telling their significant other that they saw a bird that day—and how their partner responded, either with disinterest or asking follow-up questions, showcased how interested they were in the relationship as a whole. Newsweek spoke to the host of Sex and Psychology Podcast Dr. Justin Lehmiller in November, who said: “Tests like this can potentially reveal something about your relationship health, but I’d be very cautious about the way they're employed and avoid over-interpreting the outcome.“ Lehmiller added: “If you make a bid for attention at a time when your partner is very busy, stressed, or exhausted, a less-than-enthusiastic response might not be diagnostic of how they actually feel about you or the relationship. It might just reflect a feeling of being overwhelmed.“ Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some extra details, and they could appear on our website.
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