Fact Check: Is the picture of the red-and-white Pyjama Bird real? Viral photo debunked

The viral pictures of a stunning red-and-white Pyjama Bird are currently making people question whether the creature actually exists or not. The picture of the bird is currently in circulation all over the internet. The picture is also claiming that the bird is real.

Moreover, it gained popularity after X user @flankes838811 made a post on X (previously known as Twitter) on January 14 asserting that the creature is real. On the other hand, the Wildlife, a Facebook user, posted an identical image and made the same claim.

The X post had gotten over 600 likes and over 10.7K views at the time this story was written. However, according to sites like Snopes, this picture is a fake one and the creature isn't real.

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The picture of the red-and-white Pyjama Bird is a fake

A photo of the red-and-white Pyjama Bird appeared on social media around the middle of January 2024. It purportedly depicted an amazing red and white "pyjama bird”. In the picture, the bird is seated on a tree branch. The bird's photo was even shared by several X users.

The Facebook post featuring the bird’s photo has received over 33K shares, 4.8K comments, and over 102K reactions as of this writing. On the other hand, over 10,000 people viewed the X post that included a similar photo. Nevertheless, the image of this creature making the rounds on the internet is a hoax, and it doesn't exist.

In fact, according to sites like Snopes, Google failed to produce any relevant results when they searched for a "pyjama bird" and tried to locate the original image with a reverse-image search. Hence, they deemed it not real.

The same source claims that after carefully examining the photo, they discovered indications that it had been altered or artificially created using AI. The bird's claws, for example, were distorted and appeared to melt into the branch. Additionally, the bird's beak also appeared to be abnormally and permanently closed.

In fact, as per Smiling Dog Yoga’s Bird Wings’ database, there is no bird called the “Pyjama Bird”.

Therefore, sources like Snopes seemed to have marked the claim as fake because their investigation revealed that the image was created using AI software and had no prior web presence.

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This is not the first fake photo of an animal, a flower or a bird that has gone viral

Both the Himalayan Monkey Flower and the octopus-turtle hybrid are made up creatures (Image via X / @DrSYQuraishi / Facebook / The Somerset Insider)

Images of what looked to be an octopus-turtle hybrid started circulating online in April 2023. It gained popularity when The Somerset Insider published a Facebook post in April claiming that the creature had been found in Kentucky.

The caption of the post read,

“A strange discovery was made in Lake Cumberland yesterday, sending shockwaves throughout the community”.

However, according to sites like Snopes, this picture is fake and the creature isn't real.

Additionally, in May 2023, pictures of Felis Salamandra, a glossy black cat with unusual yellow eyes and patches, started making the rounds on the internet, confusing people. After careful consideration, scientists concluded that there is no such thing as a Felis Salamandra cat and that the glossy black cats in the photos are fake.

On the other hand, in July 2023, a picture of a flower known as the Himalayan Monkey Flower started making the rounds on the internet. With the assertion that these blossoms only once every 20 years, the image gained popularity. The images showed flowers with the faces of monkeys. Once more, the claim of the unusual flower was shown to be false because it seemed to have been produced by artificial intelligence.