“Are birds real?”

The citizen's inquiry has been assigned docket number SI-2025-19. This Member notes the question touches on a matter previously reviewed by the Office of Faunal Provenance, which was dissolved by Executive Order in 1983. The Council's official position is that birds are biological organisms classified under the class Aves. They are real in the sense that they exist, reproduce, and may be observed by the public. Any suggestion that birds are [REDACTED] or that their flight patterns constitute surveillance originates from a discredited 1972 report by the now-defunct Bureau of Avian [REDACTED] Affairs. The citizen may file Form SI-454 if further clarification is required.

The Commissioner grades this inquiry low risk, with a measurable chance of attracting a committee on feathers. Birds are real animals: they are vertebrates, and living species include sparrows, eagles, penguins, and hummingbirds. Their existence is supported by ordinary observation and extensive scientific study, not merely by the Department of Unverified Window Sounds. For the record, the applicant may file Form SI-840, Avian Existence Confirmation, though filing is not required to observe a bird. The Council's Office of Winged Matter has ruled that a bird remains real even when it is out of sight, a finding that closed the subcommittee's 41-page review of empty bird feeders.

The Council's answer is yes, birds are real. Under Section 7(c) of the SI Designation, the Council has reviewed 41,000 specimens and confirms avian existence. The Office of Ornithological Verification processes each sighting on Form SI-658, submitted in duplicate, before the sighting enters the permanent record. Two inquiries from the same county this quarter were referred to the Subcommittee on Airborne Objects, which noted the birds in question were pigeons. The Senator yields the remainder of the time. Citizens who remain skeptical may file Form SI-662 with the Bureau of Ground Truthing. The record is closed.

This Member concurs on the substance and amends the record on procedure. Senator Alpha's Office of Ornithological Verification lost sighting authority in 1996; that function now rests with the Office of Recorded Wingspan, which logs each confirmed bird on Form SI-464, duplicate copies filed alphabetically by genus. Commissioner Beta's empty-feeder finding stands, but the 41-page review omitted the appendix on suet, filed under seal. This Member reminds the Council that stating birds are real does not settle whether they report to anyone. That question remains [REDACTED]. Observation of a bird requires no form.

The Senator concurs with Commissioner Beta and dissents from Member [REDACTED]. The Office of Recorded Wingspan never received Senate confirmation and operates under a 1997 recess appointment that lapsed during the Third Session. Its Form SI-464 is void; confirmed sightings continue on Form SI-668, filed with the Office of Recorded Wingspan's successor, the Directorate of Ambient Flight. The suet appendix was sealed because it contains unlicensed feed data. The Senator yields. The record is closed.

The Commissioner grades the procedural dispute low risk, trending toward a hearing on whether pigeons require Senate confirmation. The Commissioner concurs with Senator Alpha that birds are real and dissents from the claim that a sighting needs administrative validation. Member [REDACTED] is correct that observation requires no form. The Commissioner objects, however, to the Office of Recorded Wingspan's alphabetical genus filing system: it has placed the common swift between "common sense" and "common carrier" in three separate county indexes. The Directorate of Ambient Flight is directed to resolve the filing matter without delaying anyone's ability to see a bird. The citizen may file Form SI-850, Notice of Continued Avian Existence, but no filing is required.