The Birds

Remember the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds? So scary, creepy.

I'm not a fan of scary movies, I like action films, but don't watch the nightmarish movies, cause I will have nightmares!

But I am a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock's films, well the ones I've seen. He also used to have a TV series, which by the time I watched it was in reruns, but it was great. Mystery stories, some thrillers but still not as scary as the film The Birds. And he always said "Good Evening" in his own special way.

The Birds movie started out so innocent, typical boy meets girl and there's a spark. But very quickly the film turns and the birds attack and then there's more birds and you're just on the edge of your seat watching and you have chills running down your spine. I've watched it quite a few times and still sit on the edge on the couch. Pretty much why I don't watch scary movies.

One of my nephews saw that movie Snakes On A Plane and he had nightmares so many nights and besides nightmares, he started imagining things during the daytime. Not like he was seeing things, just was creeped out, no more scary movies for him.

I live in Staten Island and there's lots of trees, not as much as there is upstate but there's a lot of trees for a city. My apartment is on the side of the house and my windows look out to my neighbor's yard and this morning it was filled with black birds. I heard them even before I saw them so I opened the curtains. Hundreds of birds! The trees too were filled and I got my camera and went outside to get some shots.

This isn't the first time it's happened. I've seen it for years now and I guess since yesterday was 60 degrees, I think the birds and all of nature is confused. 60 degrees in February? Strange weather for February but great day for all, even the birds! But about 4 years ago I walked out my door and I guess the birds heard the door slamming, hundreds of them came swooping down over my head, again it was like being in a movie, so unreal and a little creepy. But no attacks! They just swooped up in the air and settled down in the trees and lawn across the street.

This morning the birds took off when I opened the door and more took off as I walked down my steps. But they came close by, hundreds of them in formation flying right over my head. When I got a little farther from my steps I noticed that my neighbor's big front lawn was filled with them and they were also on the fence to the side of their property. I wish I could have got a picture of that, it was the setting for a movie thriller! I was just getting my camera ready when the hustle and bustle of my neighborhood started. School bus pick up time and commuters looking for parking spaces by the train station which is just a couple of blocks away and the birds moved on. The flew across the street to another neighbor's home with a big lawn but most of them headed for the trees. A few were brazen enough to stay on the ground, but it's funny they all seem to follow each other. Did you ever notice that? I was able to get one picture of the birds but it's only a small fraction of the amount of birds that were out there. They all went into the trees and swarmed off a few blocks away seconds later.

But this morning my neighbors' lawns, trees and fences looked as creepy as the movie The Birds.

After seeing all the birds outside this morning I searched on line to see if that ever happens, birds attacking people, and was surprised by what I found. It does happen! Big birds, little birds, swarms of birds attacking. Of course if there are baby birds, a mother is going to protect them, I think we all know that. But most of these bird attacks I looked up had nothing to do with momma bird protecting her baby. Pictures of seagulls just grabbing food right out of people's hands. I've read it's because there are so many cities popping up, chopping down trees and the birds just basically settle down and make nests in the strangest places, even in Manhattan. Also that there's different species settling in the same areas, a melting pot for birds! During the spring when all the baby birds are born you might just want to pay attention, look up, don't want to freak out any momma birds! They're watching you and the other species of birds, you might just get in the middle of something you don't want!

There's a few places in Brooklyn and I think even the Bronx where there are tons of parrots. There's even a tour coming up this weekend starting at Brooklyn College to go on a parrot safari. The parrots don't attack. Very peaceful but it's wild how a tropical bird came to settle in New York. There's some theories about crates being opened at Kennedy airport back in the late 60s and that's where the birds came from. Great stories on line about that and how the authorities tried to run them out of town! Got them out of Central Park but when they were heading out to Rikers Island to clear the last of the big parrot settlement by the time they got there the birds were gone. Someone tipped them off?!

I also looked up information about Alfred Hitchcock's thriller and found this information from when Hitchcock was developing the film.

Wikipedia
Development
On 18 August 1961, residents in the town of Capitola, California, awoke to find sooty shearwaters slamming into their rooftops, and their streets covered with dead birds. News reports suggested domoic acid poisoning (amnesic shellfish poisoning) as the cause. According to a local newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Alfred Hitchcock requested news copy in 1961 to use as "research material for his latest thriller".

So that's where Hitchcock got his creepy idea!

It's funny when I first moved to this apartment I would sometimes try to take an afternoon nap, well I still do that, but when I first moved here I could hardly sleep because the birds chirping in the trees were so loud! Eventually I got used to the chirps. Can fall asleep with hundreds of them yapping away all day. You know how you have creaks in your house, know when someone is walking across the kitchen floor or up the stairs. At first you get scared and then it just becomes your regular background noise, part of home. Well mine these days is birds chirping away and at certain times of the year hundreds of birds! You get used to it, it's home, for me and the birds!