diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/birdwatcher.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/birdwatcher.nix
index 3325d454633a..a136b4d08abb 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/birdwatcher.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/birdwatcher.nix
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ in
           [bird]
           listen = "0.0.0.0:29184"
           config = "/etc/bird/bird.conf"
-          birdc  = "''${pkgs.bird}/bin/birdc"
+          birdc  = "''${pkgs.bird2}/bin/birdc"
           ttl = 5 # time to live (in minutes) for caching of cli output
 
           [parser]
diff --git a/nixos/tests/birdwatcher.nix b/nixos/tests/birdwatcher.nix
index 00b3b6d77af2..f82d0823b9df 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/birdwatcher.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/birdwatcher.nix
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ makeTest {
           [bird]
           listen = "0.0.0.0:29184"
           config = "/etc/bird/bird.conf"
-          birdc  = "${pkgs.bird}/bin/birdc"
+          birdc  = "${pkgs.bird2}/bin/birdc"
           ttl = 5 # time to live (in minutes) for caching of cli output
           [parser]
           filter_fields = []
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
index c04c8484cb7f..06c976b74e57 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ mapAliases {
   bibata-extra-cursors = throw "bibata-cursors has been removed as it was broken"; # Added 2024-07-15
   bitcoin-unlimited = throw "bitcoin-unlimited has been removed as it was broken and unmaintained"; # Added 2024-07-15
   bitcoind-unlimited = throw "bitcoind-unlimited has been removed as it was broken and unmaintained"; # Added 2024-07-15
-  bird = bird2; # Added 2025-01-11
+  bird = throw "The bird alias was ambiguous and has been removed for the time being. Please explicitly choose bird2 or bird3."; # Added 2025-01-11
   bisq-desktop = throw "bisq-desktop has been removed because OpenJFX 11 was removed"; # Added 2024-11-17
   bitwarden = bitwarden-desktop; # Added 2024-02-25
   blender-with-packages = args: