Birds, the warm-blooded and feathered vertebrates, are being used to put romantic partners to the test.
A relationship experiment dubbed the "bird theory" is making the rounds on social media. It involves mentioning a fake bird sighting in casual conversation.
People, largely women, record themselves telling their romantic partner about a bird they saw while out and about in a bid to gauge the level of interest in an otherwise mundane observation.
The purpose, according to one social media user, is "to see if they’ll be interested and ask about something you saw even if it’s stupid like just an ordinary bird."
Or as Vanessa Milagros, licensed mental health counselor, points out in an Oct. 21 explainer: "It's not about the bird, it's about being seen."
