LIKE, THIS REALLY HAPPENED. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic THE BIRDS is, in part, inspired by a very real phenomenon that occurred in Santa Cruz, California in 1961. One night, inexplicably, thousands of sooty shearwater birds lost their minds, dive-bombing into homes and even biting people. But, for 50 years, no one knew why… That is, until Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates connected dots throughout history through meticulous (and rather imaginative) archive specimen research. This is a Hitchcockian mystery wrapped in a scientific paper—a biological whodunnit.
Also, in this video: we uncover a horrifying first hand account of the true-life bird invasion (which overlaps in a way with another Hitchcock film, PSYCHO). And, learn how birds flock and move together. In fact, a 1986 computer program helped solve the puzzle of how they actually fly so close without every bird in a flock ricocheting off each other like pinballs.
Said another way, this is a story all about bird brains.
► WATCH! every single episode of WILD LIVES here:
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In their own words. Well, approximately their own words—they are wild animals after all.
CREDITS
Video by: Tom McNamara
Animation: Beth Wexler
Narrator: Elizabeth Ollier
Executive Producer: Amy Schellenbaum
Editor-in-Chief: Corinne Iozzio
Media
1961 Santa Cruz Sentinel bird invasion photos (courtesy Covello & Covello Photography), Archival gut contents image (2012, Nature Geoscience), “Birds of America” (1917, The University Society), Boids program (1986, courtesy Craig Reynolds), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920, Paramount film), Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates, “Gull Island” and “Inishvickillane, Blasket Islands” footage (1942, 1925, Chicago Academy of Sciences), Internet Archives, Mixed zooplankton sample (2019, Adriana Zingone, Domenico D’Alelio, Maria Grazia Mazzocchi, Marina Montresor, Diana Sarno, LTER-MC team), Oral history by Edna Messini (courtesy Capitola Historical Museum, Frank Perry), Pond5, Prelinger Archives, Pseudo-Nitzschia specimen images (NOAA/NWFSC), Santa Cruz Sentinel, “The Birds” (1963, Universal Pictures), “The Vanishing Lady” (1896, Georges Méliès)
Music
APM, Vik Sharma
Thank You
Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates (Louisiana State University, College of the Coast & Environment, Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences), Shmuel Thaler (Staff Photographer, Santa Cruz Sentinel), Dr. Cheryl Baduini (Claremont), Frank Perry (Curator, Capitola Historical Museum), Georgia Chronopoulos (Covello & Covello Photography), Wyatt Young (Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Frank Gravier (Reference Librarian, Special Collections & Archives, McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz), Erin Chapman, Josh Engel (Red Hill Birding), Jack Furtado
#AlfredHitchcock #TheBirds #SootyShearwaters #science #biology #ornithology #computerscience #computerprogramming #boids #math #naturalhistory #SantaCruz #1961 #movie #moviehistory #hitchcock #birds #mystery #edu #education #educational #sci #popularscience #FrasiertheSensuousLion #animalbehavior #popsci #science #zoo #zoos #curious #wildlives #wildlife #animal #animals #birdvideo #animalvideo #education #learning #edu #educational #biology #naturalhistory #alfred #allabout #birdfacts #craigreynolds #Ardennagrisea #birdflock #flock #starling #Murmuration #geese #whydobirdsflock #Canadagoose #Brantacanadensis #Sturnusvulgaris #frasier #santacruz #california #montereybay #history #californiahistory #moviehistory #bodegabay #birdsattack #kidscience
leodavinci1 A
November 19, 2020 at 4:39 pm
The Birds is based on a short story written by Daphne du Maurier and published in 1952… with some possible inspiration from Robert E. Howard’s The Pigeons from Hell.
John Besharian
November 21, 2020 at 4:13 am
If you rewatch this, either turn on the volume, or turn up your hearing aid.
leodavinci1 A
November 21, 2020 at 6:58 am
@John Besharian Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…Whaat Wait. Must have dozed off from all the excitement Pop Sci generates these days.
@hja2
November 19, 2020 at 11:39 am
The Birds is based on a short story written by Daphne du Maurier and published in 1952… with some possible inspiration from Robert E. Howard’s The Pigeons from Hell.
@johnbesharian9965
November 20, 2020 at 11:13 pm
If you rewatch this, either turn on the volume, or turn up your hearing aid.
@hja2
November 21, 2020 at 1:58 am
@@johnbesharian9965 Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…Whaat Wait. Must have dozed off from all the excitement Pop Sci generates these days.
@hja2
November 21, 2020 at 1:58 am
@John Besharian Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…Whaat Wait. Must have dozed off from all the excitement Pop Sci generates these days.
Garry Robinson
November 20, 2020 at 12:36 am
this is a crock of crap. Movie was based on Daphne du Maurier story.
John Besharian
November 21, 2020 at 4:08 am
Don’t know where, exactly, you received your PhD, however, that fact is mentioned within the first minute of the film.
Garry Robinson
November 21, 2020 at 4:37 am
@John Besharian the first minute of the film is opening credits, with bird sounds. Included in those credits is acknowledgment that the movie is based upon the du Maurier story.
Angelica A
December 4, 2020 at 2:10 am
@Garry Robinson You’re both right. It was based off the story but Hitchcock also drew inspiration from the real-life incident. To be fair it’s definitely a clickbait title but there is still a connection.
Grace Young
March 27, 2021 at 9:55 am
Hi handsome
@garryrobinson5494
November 19, 2020 at 7:36 pm
this is a crock of crap. Movie was based on Daphne du Maurier story.
@johnbesharian9965
November 20, 2020 at 11:08 pm
Don’t know where, exactly, you received your PhD, however, that fact is mentioned within the first minute of the film.
@garryrobinson5494
November 20, 2020 at 11:37 pm
@@johnbesharian9965 the first minute of the film is opening credits, with bird sounds. Included in those credits is acknowledgment that the movie is based upon the du Maurier story.
@garryrobinson5494
November 20, 2020 at 11:37 pm
@John Besharian the first minute of the film is opening credits, with bird sounds. Included in those credits is acknowledgment that the movie is based upon the du Maurier story.
@everentropy
December 3, 2020 at 9:10 pm
@@garryrobinson5494 You’re both right. It was based off the story but Hitchcock also drew inspiration from the real-life incident. To be fair it’s definitely a clickbait title but there is still a connection.
@everentropy
December 3, 2020 at 9:10 pm
@Garry Robinson You’re both right. It was based off the story but Hitchcock also drew inspiration from the real-life incident. To be fair it’s definitely a clickbait title but there is still a connection.
@graceyoung7262
March 27, 2021 at 5:55 am
Hi handsome
D4md Cykey
November 20, 2020 at 1:50 am
For those in the comment section (and likely for those to come later) please pay better attention to the actual video dialogue as well as the description under the video, instead of getting triggered and attributing something that is neither said, nor implied. It’s frankly embarrassing what little cognition so many people have these days.
John Besharian
November 21, 2020 at 4:10 am
“Ignorance is bliss” for everyone, except for those unfortunately on the receiving end, of course.
Angelica A
December 4, 2020 at 2:07 am
Can we not use the word triggered in a casual context. It makes you seem both insensitive and uneducated…
D4md Cykey
December 4, 2020 at 2:23 am
@Angelica A ~ The word was not used casually, so your intended point is moot.
@d4mdcykey
November 19, 2020 at 8:50 pm
For those in the comment section (and likely for those to come later) please pay better attention to the actual video dialogue as well as the description under the video, instead of getting triggered and attributing something that is neither said, nor implied. It’s frankly embarrassing what little cognition so many people have these days.
@johnbesharian9965
November 20, 2020 at 11:10 pm
“Ignorance is bliss” for everyone, except for those unfortunately on the receiving end, of course.
@everentropy
December 3, 2020 at 9:07 pm
Can we not use the word triggered in a casual context. It makes you seem both insensitive and uneducated…
@d4mdcykey
December 3, 2020 at 9:23 pm
@@everentropy ~ The word was not used casually, so your intended point is moot.
@d4mdcykey
December 3, 2020 at 9:23 pm
@Angelica A ~ The word was not used casually, so your intended point is moot.
John Besharian
November 21, 2020 at 4:24 am
Wasn’t Hitchcock’s The Birds filmed in Bolinas? My wife, Lisa Kindred and I lived in Stinson Beach between mid-December of 1971 to late September of 1973. Beautiful place. (Good fishing too.)
Blue River
December 18, 2022 at 5:25 pm
It was film in Bodega Bay and Bodega
@johnbesharian9965
November 20, 2020 at 11:24 pm
Wasn’t Hitchcock’s The Birds filmed in Bolinas? My wife, Lisa Kindred and I lived in Stinson Beach between mid-December of 1971 to late September of 1973. Beautiful place. (Good fishing too.)
@blueriver2443
December 18, 2022 at 12:25 pm
It was film in Bodega Bay and Bodega
PC No
November 21, 2020 at 10:30 am
I’ve heard stories of presumably-sane birds dive-bombing animals (cats, humans, etc.) that they perceive to be potential predators, so it makes sense that confused or poisoned flocks of birds might do the same to random creatures, even if there is no reason for them to perceive them as predators.
@pcno2832
November 21, 2020 at 5:30 am
I’ve heard stories of presumably-sane birds dive-bombing animals (cats, humans, etc.) that they perceive to be potential predators, so it makes sense that confused or poisoned flocks of birds might do the same to random creatures, even if there is no reason for them to perceive them as predators.
Lucky 7 Tattoo & Piercing Tahoe
December 21, 2020 at 10:42 pm
Fascinating. I had always wondered “what happened” as a kid in the area this really happened. Now I know! Thanks for the education.
@Lucky7tattooNettahoe
December 21, 2020 at 5:42 pm
Fascinating. I had always wondered “what happened” as a kid in the area this really happened. Now I know! Thanks for the education.
Sam Pinheiro
January 4, 2021 at 9:26 am
Wow that is born 😡 a terrible inspiration of the company’s IN THIS FEATURE WHY WHY THEY PEAPLE IS NOT FORGETTING THAT HAPPENING! It’s so sad the company’s are making the animals eating birds😭😢🥺 Why those people isn’t happy today to the birds friends I’m so sorry I love birds why this company is making this movie I Don’t like horror movie now this movie is MEKING ME ANGRY 😡 THIS MOVIE is regent all my favorite Birds I’m so sorry to be angry but I don’t like that horror movie but I never watching but I don’t like 👎 and I’m so sorry to said this movie is making me angry and I’m sorry 😞 to said this movie is reject my favorite Birds but it’s a sad story to the birds and the peaple.
Catherine leavy
March 25, 2021 at 8:03 pm
First time this year i had a robins nest in my window in flew enza
carn evil
March 25, 2021 at 8:03 pm
First time this year i had a robins nest in my window in flew enza
@carnevil
March 25, 2021 at 8:03 pm
First time this year i had a robins nest in my window in flew enza
carnevil
March 25, 2021 at 8:03 pm
First time this year i had a robins nest in my window in flew enza
@carnevil5740
March 25, 2021 at 4:03 pm
First time this year i had a robins nest in my window in flew enza
শঙ্কু_ পাগলা
April 5, 2022 at 6:40 am
after watching the film I spent several years being afraid of crows
_নামহীন
April 5, 2022 at 6:40 am
after watching the film I spent several years being afraid of crows
@fourthinternationalist_1917
April 5, 2022 at 2:40 am
after watching the film I spent several years being afraid of crows
Eddie Clark
September 3, 2022 at 10:18 pm
Based on a true story out of Capitola, California about the sooty Shearwater birds dive bombing into people’s homes and attacking them.
Eddie Clark
September 3, 2022 at 6:18 pm
Based on a true story out of Capitola, California about the sooty Shearwater birds dive bombing into people’s homes and attacking them. Something like this will happen one of these days if we don’t take care of nature !!
@eddieclark5930
September 3, 2022 at 6:18 pm
Based on a true story out of Capitola, California about the sooty Shearwater birds dive bombing into people’s homes and attacking them. Something like this will happen one of these days if we don’t take care of nature !!