Hitchcock’s Deranged Birds
Science backs up some aspects of the famed director's classic 1963 movie The Birds.
This story comes to you through a partnership between 爆料公社 and BirdNote(r), a show that airs daily on public radio stations nationwide.
*This podcast is enabled by Flash and may not work on mobile devices.*
[audioplayer:230086|align:left|caption:none]
In Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller, , Bodega Bay, California, is inexplicably besieged by crazed birds. After the birds attack and kill several residents, the townspeople flee in terror.
We never find out why the birds became deranged, but research from 2011 does give us food for thought. After a flock of disoriented swarmed Monterey Bay , poisoning was suspected.
But when a flock of confused and dying came ashore in the same area , scientists found evidence of poisoning. In 2011, a study published in the journal reported that the pelicans had eaten fish laden with a neurotoxin produced by plankton. These toxins contained -- quote -- "a nerve-damaging acid, which causes confusion, seizures and death in birds."
Maybe Hitchcock's movie isn't so far-fetched after all...
To hear this show again, visit the website, .
Waves recorded by John Kessler.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Writer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
漏 2014 Tune In to Nature.org December 2014 Narrator: Michael Stein