Board Thread:FAQs/@comment-25716757-20170326003120/@comment-28251580-20170513215049

I don't remember any interview where this specific issue was tackled. From a logical point of view though it should view those birds as entities in the realm affecting players and the game. See the next section though:

Before Kirito joins OS? You mean before he activates his Augma to enter Ordinal Scale? This is basically the equivent class to the birds. Iirc correctly, they are not processed by the Augma. They are there, players can see them, but the Augma / Ordinal Scale does not know how to handle them and won't process them in their calculations.