The Aviary

"The Aviary" is a nickname given by UFOlogists to the group of people working for the US military who deliberately spread disinformation about UFOs during the 1970s and 1980s and possibly later, apparently on behalf of the US military. The name refers to the fact that they are known by codenames that are names of birds.

Falcon and Sparrow

At a 1989 Mutual UFO Network conference, Bill Moore confessed that he had intentionally fed fake evidence of extraterrestrials to UFO researchers including Paul Bennewitz.

In early September 1980 I was approached by a well-placed individual within the intelligence community who claimed to be directly connected to a high-level government project dealing with UFOs. this individual, who subsequently came to be known as the Falcon, told me that he spoke for a small group of similar individuals who were uncomfortable with the government's continuing cover-up of the truth and indicated that he and his group would like to help me with my research into the subject in the hope that I might be able to help them find a way to change their prevailing policy and get the facts out without breaking any laws in the process. I knew I was being recruited but at that point I had no idea for what. In any case I was told that if I was interested in cooperating with their group I would further be contacted by a liaison man and that future meetings between me and the Falcon would be arranged by this person. the liaison person who subsequently made contact with me was afosi agent Richard Doty a man who has since become quite controversial in his own right and who many people have mistakenly assumed is the Falcon himself. the story of my contacts with the Falcon, Doty and subsequently a number of others is something I will have considerably more to say about at a later date.

[...]

[O]n the question of Richard Doty and the Falcon it's important to note that the name Falcon was invented by my partner Jaime Shandera and I in 1984. strictly as a way of facilitating our talking to each other about this person particularly on the telephone without having to use a name.

Richard Doty who continued to be liaison man was similarly referred to us or by us as the Sparrow. Neither Sparrow nor Falcon were aware that we were using these terms in reference to them nor was anyone else to the best of my knowledge prior to about mid 1985 it was in mid 1987 just after we went public with the MJ-12 papers that, at Falcon's suggestion, and with the concurrence of Richard Doty, we began dropping subtle hints that Falcon might in fact be Doty. Falcon felt that such a ploy would be useful to him in continuing to protect his identity while Doty for his part said that if anybody asked he could simply deny it and that would be that we agreed and as many of you are painfully aware it turned out to be an excellent diversion particularly with respect to the effect it had following the UFO cover-up live show which was broadcast nationally in October 1988 in all fairness to Mr Doty here I should also like to comment that in my assessment rick is much better at following orders and implementing the schemes of others than he is at coming up with ideas of his own those of you that have devoted time and energy to constantly badgering this man for more information should be aware that all you are doing is making nuisances of yourself rick is not the man you're after.

Other members

Over time Moore and Shandera became aware of other government sources involved with Falcon and Sparrow, and they continued to give each source a nickname.

Bill Moore stated with a grin, 'There are now 12 in the aviary,' all credible people, well-placed as employees, scientific consultants, or intelligence agents.

[...] He went on to describe the main characteristic of each aviary member:

'Hawk is a person well-connected in areas of study in ESP since the 1960s, with impressive credentials. Blue Jay is a person close to the President of the United States, capable of checking on information to determine its reliability. Partridge is a scientist privy to UFO information collected by the government. Chickadee is well-placed in the Pentagon and versed in scientific data. Heron is enigmatic and puzzling; he seems to 'speak in riddles.' Sparrow is the code name for Richard Doty, a former agent for the Air Force's Office of Scientific Information (AFOSI), and was the original go-between between Falcon and myself, and so on.'

Later, Moore stated that Doty was a small man in the operation. The process, in his opinion, started 'originally from the National Security Agency (NSA) and high levels of the AFOSI.

Contradicting Moore, Robert Hastings said that Doty was Falcon.

During a recent telephone conversation, Linda Moulton Howe told me that when Sgt. Doty invited her to his office at Kirtland AFB in early April 1983, and showed her a purportedly authentic U.S. Government document on UFOs, he identified himself as code-name "Falcon" and stated that it was Bill Moore who had given him that name. Also, in early December 1988, a ranking member of the production team responsible for the "UFO Cover Up? -- Live" television documentary confirmed that Doty is "Falcon". This same individual also identified the second MJ-12 source who appeared on the program, "Condor", as Robert Collins who was, until recently, a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. Like Doty, he was stationed at KAFB when he left the service late last year.