The Birds

 Little Things I've Learned

The film "The Birds" was based on a short story of the same name written by Daphne Du Marier in 1952. However, Hitchcock also showed interest in an actual event that occurred in Monterey, Calif., in 1961 and inspired him to make the film.

Thousands of seabirds called ‘sooty shearwaters’ gathered near North Monterey Bay in the summer of ’61, behaving strangely and flying into objects and homes. It’s now thought the birds ate toxic algae.

In filming the famous “bedroom scene” where Tippi Hendren's character suffers a vicious attack from the frenzied birds, Hedren was promised by the filmmaker that he would use mechanical birds.

However, she was informed on the day of filming by the assistant director that the mechanical birds were not working and that they would use real birds instead. It was the last day of filming when live birds were loosely attached to Hedren as she lay on the ground.

When “Action! was called, the birds literally started pecking at her and the bird handlers hurled live birds directly at her.

The horror on Hendren’s face was very real.