---
alias:
- The Aviary
- Aviary
- the aviary
- The Birds
- the birds
category: UFO & Anomalous Phenomena
created: 2026-10-02
summary: Name applied in UFO literature to the bird-named military and intelligence
  contacts who supplied UFO information to William L. Moore in the 1980s, and to a
  later roster published by Richard Boylan.
tags:
- Organization
- UFO
- Disinformation
- Counterintelligence
- AFOSI
- MJ12
- 1980s
updated: 2026-10-03
---

The Aviary is the name used in the UFO literature for the intelligence, military and defense-industry contacts who passed information on UFOs to [William L. Moore](/people/william-l-moore/) and [Jaime Shandera](/people/jaime-shandera/) between 1980 and 1988, and for a later roster of such figures published by Richard J. Boylan. Accounts differ on who named the group and who belonged to it.

### The Naming

A UFO BBS text file, an encyclopedia-style account of the Moore affair whose author is not identified in the copy consulted, states that Moore and Shandera "had given them avian names and called the sources collectively 'the birds.'"[^1] Mark Pilkington wrote in 2010 that "when researcher Bill Moore was drawn into this network by [Richard Doty](/people/richard-doty/) and his colleagues at AFOSI, he gave them the nickname the Aviary and identified them all using bird names," and described the network as "a loose-knit group of scientists, intelligence specialists and military personnel," formed in the mid-1970s, "all fascinated by the UFO subject," which had developed a distilled version of its findings that it called "the Core Story."[^2] Boylan wrote that "a small group of individuals with extremely high security clearances" had interacted unofficially since the 1970s and "gave themselves code names, using mostly bird names," numbering "roughly a dozen."[^3]

The same account states that in September 1980, according to an account Moore gave seven years later, a caller identifying himself as being from Kirtland Air Force Base asked to meet him, that Moore and the man he would call "Falcon" met at a local restaurant, and that this "would initiate a long-running relationship" between Moore (and, beginning in 1982, Shandera) and 10 members of "a shadowy group said to be connected with military intelligence and to be opposed to the continuation of the UFO cover-up."[^1] Pilkington wrote that a Denny's restaurant "may even be where Doty and Falcon first met Bill Moore back in 1980."[^2]

William L. Moore said on July 1, 1989 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"; that Richard Doty "was similarly referred to by us as the Sparrow"; that neither man was aware of the labels, nor anyone else to Moore's knowledge, before about mid-1985; and that in mid-1987, "just after we went public with the MJ-12 papers," at Falcon's suggestion and with Doty's concurrence they began "dropping subtle hints that Falcon might in fact be Doty," which he called "an excellent diversion, particularly with respect to the effect it had following the UFO coverup live show."[^4] Moore closed the speech: "I am presently working with a network of more than a dozen individuals, some of whom hold some very impressive credentials... Our group is euphemistically called the aviary and each individual uses a code name of a bird as an identifier."[^4] Doty said on Coast to Coast AM on February 27, 2005 that Moore "was recruited by another person within [Defense Intelligence Agency](/organizations/defense-intelligence-agency/) to provide disinformation," as "an asset," and that his own task was to make contact with Moore after a radio appearance; Greg Bishop, on the same program, said the contact was known as Falcon, "apparently from the Defense Intelligence Agency," and head of the operation against [Paul Bennewitz](/people/paul-bennewitz/).[^5] Mark Pilkington asked whether Colonel Barry Hennessey, who ran the AFOSI special projects unit at the [Pentagon](/organizations/pentagon/) in the period of the MJ-12 release and the Bennewitz affair, was Falcon, and wrote that Hennessey and Moore had both denied it.[^3]

### Falcon, Condor and Richard Doty

According to the account, the caller telephoned the Albuquerque radio studio after a broadcast on September 8, 1980; the caller "identified himself as an individual from nearby Kirtland AFB."[^1] Robert Hastings wrote on March 1, 1989 that "it has been established that 'Falcon,' one of the principle [sic] sources of the [MJ-12](/events/majestic-12/) material, is Richard C. Doty," formerly of AFOSI District 17 at Kirtland Air Force Base, who retired on October 1, 1988. He gave two bases: that [Linda Moulton Howe](/people/linda-moulton-howe/) told him that when Doty invited her to his Kirtland office in early April 1983 he "identified himself as code-name 'Falcon' and stated that it was Bill Moore who had given him that name," and that "a ranking member of the production team" of the television program UFO Cover Up?-Live confirmed in early December 1988 that Doty was Falcon and that the program's second source, Condor, was Robert Collins, "until recently, a Captain in the [U.S. Air Force](/organizations/us-air-force/)" stationed at Kirtland.[^6] Both Moore and Richard Doty denied that Doty was Falcon, saying that Doty had been given that pseudonym long after the 1983 meeting with Howe and that the real Falcon, an older man, had been in the studio audience for the broadcast while Doty was in [New Mexico](/places/new-mexico/) training with the state police; Howe stood by her account.[^6] Pilkington wrote that Doty was "aka Falcon (though not, apparently, Bill Moore's original Falcon)" and Collins "aka Condor," and that the two "would reunite in 2005 as the authors of *Exempt from Disclosure*."[^2]

The program, [UFO Cover-Up Live!](/events/ufo-cover-up-live/), aired on October 14, 1988,[^7] with two Air Force insiders, faces shaded, identified as Falcon and Condor, who told of a treaty with an alien race;[^2] the UFO BBS account adds that the program was most remembered for the informants' statements that the aliens favored ancient Tibetan music and strawberry ice cream.[^1] According to that account Moore provided the two sources to the television production company in 1988.[^1] Pilkington describes Collins as "a former Air Force physicist and, like Rick, one of Bill Moore's 'aviary' of military insiders with an interest in UFOs."[^2] Robert Collins and Doty are the credited authors of *Exempt from Disclosure: The Black World of UFOs,* which Pilkington describes as self-published.[^2]

### The 1989 Lecture

On July 1, 1989, at the Mutual UFO Network symposium in [Las Vegas](/places/las-vegas/), Moore told the audience that his "role in the affair was largely that of a freelancer providing information on Paul's current thinking and activities," referring to Paul Bennewitz, and that Doty, "faithfully carrying out orders which he personally found distasteful," had been involved in the effort to confuse and discredit Bennewitz. Moore said that Doty was chosen by "the real 'Falcon'" as "liaison person, although I really don't know. Frankly, I don't believe that Doty does either. In my opinion he was simply a pawn in a much larger game, just as I was," and that he intended to "play the disinformation game, get my hands dirty just often enough to lead those directing the process into believing that I was doing exactly what they wanted me to do," while learning "who was directing it and why." Moore also said that Linda Howe had been the victim of one of Doty's disinformation operations. He said that before he stopped cooperating in 1984 he had given AFOSI "routine information" about others in the UFO community, and he named Len Stringfield, Pete Mazzola, Peter Gersten, Larry Fawcett, James and Coral Lorenzen and Larry W. Bryant as the subjects of intelligence-community interest between 1980 and 1984.[^8] Barry Greenwood wrote in 1989 that Moore had "covertly informed on people who thought he was their friend and colleague," and complained of Moore's admission that on UFO Cover-Up Live Falcon and Condor had said things they knew were untrue.[^1]

### Collins's Roster and Meetings

Robert M. Collins wrote in a text with a copyright notice of 2010 (and references to June and July 2012) that "during the interlude, all the players received bird names": Doty "was already the surrogate 'Falcon' when the real Falcon (DIA's, Dale Graff?) couldn't be found," Ernie Kellerstrass became "Hawk," [Hal Puthoff](/people/hal-puthoff/) "Partridge," [C.B. Scott Jones](/people/cb-scott-jones/) "Hummingbird," [Kit Green](/people/kit-green/) "Blue Jay," [John B. Alexander](/people/john-b-alexander/) "Chickadee," and Collins "Condor."[^9] These differ from the roster published by Richard J. Boylan in *Perceptions*, which gives Chickadee to Jones, Owl to Puthoff and Penguin to Alexander. Collins also wrote "Heron (Jerry Miller)," that Doty applied "Raven" from 1991 to [Richard Helms](/people/richard-helms/) ("Mr. R."), which he distinguished from "Jaime Shandera's 'Raven,'" calling the latter "still an unknown."[^9]

Collins dated the meetings: fall 1987, dinner at Kellerstrass's house in Beavercreek, Ohio, with Moore, Jaime Shandera, Puthoff, Alexander, "Scott Jones (assistant for Senator Pell)" and Collins; August 1988, a meeting at a state park near Dayton, Ohio, with the executive producer of UFO Cover-Up Live, Seligman, a companion of Kellerstrass from "DET 22," and picture-identification checks after which the producer hired a congressional investigator and the men "all checked out"; September 1988, interviews filmed in Albuquerque; April 1989, a "mini-summit" at an Albuquerque motel with Puthoff, Green, Doty, Moore, Shandera and Collins, at which Green "took center stage by proposing several lines of attack involving disclosure strategies." After the broadcast, he wrote, "there were now two new birds in the Aviary," and "to this day many of us still stay in contact (except for Bill & Jaime)."[^9]

Collins described a "Bird Code" of more than seventeen pages, received in 1987 and 1988 by Kellerstrass, Doty, Collins, Shandera and Moore, leading to a "Bird Sanctuary," an apartment near the Mall in [Washington, D.C.](/places/washington-dc/) where a female extraterrestrial ambassador was kept; he wrote that Moore and Shandera "actually made the trips to DC" and that in the summer of 1995 Shandera met a man Collins called "Mr. X" ("Walter Ferguson, CIA?"). Moore said in 1989 that Jerome Clark had reported in *Fate* that he and Shandera made a trip to Washington in anticipation of meeting a live alien and were stood up, and that "we made the trip because we simply couldn't lose."[^9][^10]

Collins wrote that "in June/July 2012 the CIA Falcon was disclosed as none other than" Harry August Rositzke (born 1910 in New York, died November 4, 2002 in Warrenton, Virginia); that "Bill Moore provided a name to his friend Greg Bishop in 2005" and that Brian Parks said Moore gave him "the very same name"; and, in a reference, "according to Bill Moore and known by Rick Doty it's Harry August Rositzke," with a redacted 1961 FBI memorandum on Rositzke supplied by Parks, whose statement is dated "07-20-012." The name is Collins's report of what Moore told others; Moore did not publish it, and in 1989 he said Falcon was a name he and Shandera had coined in 1984.[^9][^10] In a chapter of the same book Doty is quoted as saying that Helms told Green "Always believe what Richard Doty tells you about UFOs."[^9]

Doty wrote on March 3, 1989 that he was not "the Falcon mentioned in the Television program last October" and had "been exonerated by Government Investigative Agencies regarding that matter."[^11] Robert Hastings had reported on March 1, 1989 that Doty and Collins both denied involvement in the MJ-12 affair, and that a member of the production team had identified Falcon and Condor to him in early December 1988.[^12]

### Boylan's Roster

Richard J. Boylan published in *Perceptions* an article stating that "a small group of individuals with extremely high security clearances" had interacted since the 1970s, that "leaked reports from sources close to some Aviary members" suggested a split between members favoring broad disclosure of UFO information and members resisting it, and that the group was separate from a higher "PI-40" group, which he attributed to reporting by Steven Greer. The article does not name a source for its list of "reported Aviary members." In a separate passage Boylan wrote that "an often-reliable Washington, D.C.-area" source whom he called "Beltway Throat," and whom the host site's editor, in an interpolation, calls Dan Smith, was "in dialogue with a number of members of the Aviary." Beltway Throat's claims, as reported by Boylan, included access by several members to two books, the "Yellow Book" and the "Red Book," and a predicted landing of extraterrestrials on April 24, 1997.[^3] The list as reproduced reads:[^3]

Blue Jay: Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green, described as chief of the biomedical sciences department at General Motors and former head of the CIA's UFO files at the "Weird Desk." See Kit Green.

Pelican: Ron Pandolfi, described as "CIA Deputy Director for the Division of Science and Technology and current custodian of UFO files at the 'Weird Desk'" who "may be involved in the [White House](/places/white-house/) initiative to promptly release UFO information to the public." See [Ronald Pandolfi](/people/ronald-pandolfi/).

Sea Gull: Bruce Maccabee, described as a research scientist in optical physics and laser weapons applications at the Naval Surface Weapons Laboratory in [Maryland](/places/maryland/) and a MUFON consultant.

Owl: Hal Puthoff, described as a physicist with the "Institute for Advanced Research in Austin, Texas" who specializes in zero-point energy.

Penguin: John B. Alexander, described as an Army Intelligence and Security Command lieutenant colonel and director of the non-lethal weapons department at [Los Alamos](/places/los-alamos/).

Chickadee: C. B. Scott Jones, described as a retired Navy commander, former officer with the [Office of Naval Intelligence](/organizations/office-of-naval-intelligence/) and former aide to Senator [Claiborne Pell](/people/claiborne-pell/) (spelled "Clairborne" in the text).

Parrot (with a question mark): [Jacques Vallee](/people/jacques-vallee/).

Chicken Little: Dan Smith, described as a "civilian UFO research/volunteer liaison among sources within the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/), the Congressional Intelligence Committees and civilian UFO researchers."

Condor: Captain Bob Collins, AFOSI.

Buzzard (with a question mark): "Gordon Novell" (as spelled), described as a free-lance man reportedly involved in zero-point energy schemes and "tied to [Bob Bigelow](/people/robert-bigelow/)."

Falcon: "Sgt. Richard 'Dick' Doty, USAF (Ret.)," AFOSI, described as reported to have engaged in UFO disinformation projects, including hoaxing Linda Howe and "allegedly waging psychological warfare" on Paul Bennewitz.

Harrier (with a question mark): [Dale Graff](/people/dale-graff/).

Nightingale (with a question mark): "Jack Verona" (as spelled; presumably [Jack Vorona](/people/jack-vorona/)), though the list adds that, according to Dan Smith, Nightingale "may be" the British researcher George Wingfield.

Hawk: Ernie Kellerstrauss.

Woodpecker (with a question mark): Jaime Shandera, described as reported to be, with Scott Jones and Dan Smith, one of the "theologically-oriented and pro-UFO-disclosure 'Progressives'" among the Aviary.

The host site's copy contains interpolated comments by its editors, including a note that Vallee's inclusion may be the consensus of Boylan, not of the site.[^3] The issue of *Perceptions* is given only as November/December, and the text refers to events of December 1994 and to a landing predicted for April 1997 as future.[^3] Boylan wrote that "the relationship of Aviary members to MJ-12 group is murky" and that some researchers estimate "some overlap in membership."[^3]

### Reported Interactions of Listed Names

Pilkington wrote in *Mirage Men* of a meeting with Kit Green, whose interest in UFOs, Pilkington wrote, dated to "his time as the CIA's 'keeper of the weird' at the Office for Science and Technology" ("really he was a senior science analyst," Pilkington added), and who was "a close and long-standing friend of Rick Doty." Pilkington wrote that at a Denny's restaurant "back in 1986" Green, Puthoff and Vallee "distilled what they knew about the subject into what has become known as the 'core story,'" which Green stated to Pilkington as: "The ETs came here, maybe once, maybe a few times. Either through accident or design, the US government acquired one of their craft."[^2] The passages of the Green interview read do not use the word Aviary.[^2] A document in the Clinton White House science adviser's files, a letter of April 29, 1995 from C. Richard Farley Jr., describes Dan Smith of Baltimore as "a self-proclaimed confidant and asset of Dr. Ronald Pandolfi."[^4]

The blogger Robert Schaeffer reported in 2019, in a passage quoted by Jason Colavito, that the television producer Robert Kiviat had been engaged by Joe Firmage to develop a network series on Firmage's anti-gravity claims "and also the story of the Aviary UFO history as seen through the eyes of Pandolfi." Kiviat said, in the quoted interview, that "Pandolfi was not willing to state his claims publicly." Colavito wrote that Kiviat filed suit against Firmage, Pandolfi and the former congressman Daniel Marriott seeking $300,000. The complaint was not read, and the defendants' answers were not found.[^5]

[^1]: "E B E's," parts 5, 11 and 17, UFO BBS text files UFO1024, UFO1030 and UFO1036, textfiles.com mirror, https://mirror.cyberbits.eu/textfiles.com/ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1024.ufo, .../1030.ufo and .../1036.ufo. The files carry no author line in the portions read; the text cites Moore 1989a and 1989b, Greenwood 1989 and Hastings 1989. The Greenwood quotations are as quoted in part 17. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^2]: Pilkington, Mark. *Mirage Men: A Journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs.* 2010, chapters on the Laughlin conference, Doty, "The Man in the White Coat" and "How to Believe Weird Things," read in a PDF copy at https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Mark%20Pilkington%20-%20Mirage%20Men%20-%20A%20Journey%20into%20Disinformation,%20Paranoia%20and%20UFOs.pdf. Green's statements are first-person quotations and reported speech in the book; sole source for the passages so cited. Also gives 18 October for the broadcast of UFO Cover-Up Live and says Colonel Barry Hennessey ran the AFOSI special projects unit at the Pentagon, and that Hennessey and Moore both denied he was Falcon.
[^3]: Boylan, Richard J. "UFO/ET-Disclosure Policy Splits Covert Network," *Perceptions,* November/December issue, year not stated in the copy consulted, reproduced with editorial interpolations at think-aboutit.com, Wayback Machine capture of August 31, 2013, http://web.archive.org/web/20130831033026/http://www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/aviary.htm. Sole source for the roster.
[^4]: Farley, C. Richard, Jr., letter to John H. Gibbons, April 29, 1995, Clinton Presidential Library, Office of Science and Technology Policy FOIA 01-22, item 46, https://avalonlibrary.net/Grant_Cameron/Clinton_Presidential_Library_collection/OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022/1995%2004%2029_C.%20Richard%20Farley,%20Jr.%20to%20John%20Gibbons%20-%20OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022%20-%20item%20no%2046.pdf.
[^5]: Colavito, Jason, quoting Schaeffer, Robert, and Kiviat, Robert. "Alien Autopsy Producer Sues UFO Contactee, Former CIA Scientist, and Ex-Congressman over Stalled UFO Documentary," March 23, 2019, https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/alien-autopsy-producer-sues-ufo-contactee-former-cia-scientist-and-ex-congressman-over-stalled-ufo-documentary. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^6]: Hastings, Robert. Statement of March 1, 1989, as quoted in "E B E's," part 16, UFO BBS file UFO1035, https://mirror.cyberbits.eu/textfiles.com/ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1035.ufo. The denials by Moore and Doty and the account of the "real Falcon" are in that file's own narration, not in the Hastings quotation. The original statement was not opened.
[^7]: Timothy Good, ed., *The UFO Report 1990*, "Editor's Foreword" (London, April 1989), pp. vii to viii (October 14, 1988); Barry Taff, UFO BBS file UFO135 ("When the final product aired on October 14 of that year"); Linda Moulton Howe, *An Alien Harvest*, 2nd ed. (2014), pp. 193 to 196; Robert Collins and Richard Doty, *Exempt from Disclosure* ("The show finally aired on October 14, 1988"); Internet Archive upload description ("Broadcast 10/14/88"). Mark Pilkington, *Mirage Men*, gives 18 October.
[^8]: Moore, William L., lecture of July 1, 1989, MUFON International UFO Symposium, Las Vegas, as quoted in "E B E's," part 17, UFO BBS file UFO1036, https://mirror.cyberbits.eu/textfiles.com/ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1036.ufo (which cites Moore 1989b). The speech text itself was not read.
[^9]: Robert Collins and Richard Doty, *Exempt from Disclosure: The Black World of UFOs* (Peregrine Communications; copyright notice 2010), introduction; Section 1, "Go west as they say," "Summits without the Cocktails, the fall of 1987," "And We Became Birds: 'The Aviary,'" "August 1988: Cloak & Dagger," "September 1988," "April 1989"; Section 2, Chapter 4 and references 4a, 4b and 5, https://archive.org/details/exempt-from-disclosure (OCR text read). Collins's account is the sole source for the passages so cited.
[^10]: William L. Moore, "UFOs and the U.S. Government, Part I," address to the MUFON International UFO Symposium, Las Vegas, July 1, 1989, video recorded by Ron Regehr (Internet Archive item bill-moore-1989-mufon, https://archive.org/details/bill-moore-1989-mufon), read in the caption transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUfimKiS-po; captions mis-render names ("Dodie," "Chandere") and are corrected here. The printed version in the MUFON UFO Journal of November and December 1989 was not obtained.
[^11]: Richard C. Doty, letter of March 3, 1989, http://textfiles.com/ufo/doty.ufo
[^12]: Robert Hastings, "The MJ-12 Affair: Facts, Questions, Comments," March 1, 1989, https://web.archive.org/web/20161028084620/http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/hastings.htm