Based on a short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, The Birds (1963) is a strange thriller film, directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, full of unbelievably thrilling sequences and true horror film shocks, focusing on the inexplicably violent attacks by massive flocks of aggressive birds on Bodega Bay, California, a small northern California coastal town.

Considered Hitchcock’s most significant technical accomplishments in his long career, it is the movie in which the director and his crew threw live birds at Tippi Hedren, playing the role of Melanie Daniels, for five days straight. Coming after the low-budget Psycho, the biggest hit of his career, it was a massively budgeted affair full of the most complicated special effects, for which Hitchcock even employed Ubbe Ert Iwerks, known as Ub Iwerks, an animator and special effects technician as a special consultant to create the numerous levels of bird photography, along with a dedicated trainer and hundreds of live birds. Interestingly, although a lot of money was spent on the creation of mechanical birds for the film, the majority of the birds seen in the film are real, mostly caught in the San Francisco garbage dump. However, the next move of the director proved to be more difficult, as he wanted to select a completely unknown face to play the role of the leading lady, instead of an established actress, and finally discovered Tippi Hedren, a model, from a diet drink advertisement displayed on the television.

Although studio was shocked, as she never did any professional acting, Hitchcock stood firm and transformed the model into a star. Nevertheless, while the film received mixed reviews on its initial release, over the time it has been recognised as one of the greatest horror films of all time.

Hitchcock wanted to make it a film of silent murder, and chose to have no musical score for it, as he felt that the absence of music would make the film more frightening. He also had the idea of using the noises of the birds as a type of score, and engaged Bernard Herrmann as a sound consultant for the purpose. For the thudding and scratching of the birds, Hitchcock had a drummer to perform a roll, increasing the tempo of movement of the actors pacing the room.

The sound effects were further enhanced electronically to create a score of the other worldly eerie bird calls and the fluttering of their wings, echoing inside the traumatised hearts of their victims.

The Birds opens in a San Francisco pet store, where socialite Melanie Daniels first meets lawyer Mitch Brenner, who wanted to buy lovebirds for his sister Cathy, as a gift on her 11th birthday. Mitch immediately recognised Melanie from her earlier court appearance in a particular case, but pretends to mistake her for a shop employee and asks her about lovebirds, which she fails. After that Mitch discloses his prior knowledge about her and surprisingly leaves the store without buying the birds. Although Melanie felt insulted by Mitch for fooling her, she was obviously smitten, and decides to give him a return. So she buys two lovebirds, and drives up the coast to Bodega Bay, where Mitch was reportedly spending his weekends in his family farm with his mother Lydia and sister Cathy. At Bodega Bay, she meets Cathy’s teacher Annie Hayworth, who is also the former lover of Mitch, whose relationship with Mitch ended due to his overbearing mother, Lydia, who dislikes any woman in Mitch's life.

Nevertheless, with the intention to leave the lovebirds at the Brenner farm in secret, Melanie rents a boat to cross the bay, but was spotted by Mitch who drives to meet her at the dock. But as Melanie was approaching the wharf, she was surprisingly hit in the head by a swooping gull. Although it was just one bird, and one isolated strike, it was also the beginning of the unbelievable future attacks, signifying the introduction of the menace. However, Mitch helps Melanie out of the boat, bandages her cut in a local restaurant and invites her to the birthday party of Cathy on the next day. In the meantime, Lydia also arrives at the restaurant, meets Melanie, and complains about her hens refusing to eat at her farm, signifying the second hint of the brewing trouble. After that, Melanie returns to Annie’s house, where she is to stay and pass the night in a spare room. During the night the two women had a long conversation about Mitch and his dominating mother, until interrupted by Mitch's telephone call to Melanie. And then they hear a loud noise at the door, and found a bird, that hit the door and fell dead on the porch, signifying the third hint of menace from the birds.

Next day, at Cathy’s birthday party, Mitch and Melanie have a quiet scene together, when Melanie tells Mitch about her troubled past and her mother running off with another man when she was a little girl like Cathy, followed by the first concerted attack of the aggressive birds on the playing children at the party. Although nobody was seriously injured, the incident made everybody shocked and scared, especially when later that evening, hundreds of sparrows swarm the house through the chimney. The next morning, Lydia visits her neighbour to discuss about the unusual aversion of food of her chickens, only to find the broken windows in his bedroom and the horrible sight of his lifeless body, his eyes pecked out by the birds.

Struck with absolute panic, she immediately ran away from the spot and while recovering at home, she and Melanie have a scene together, which bonds them emotionally for the first time. Lydia was worried and extremely scared about Cathy's safety, and Melanie offers to pick her up from the school and see that Cathy gets home safely. While Melanie was waiting for the kid, sitting on a bench outside the schoolhouse, and listening to the children sing a song, ground was almost prepared for the most iconic scene in the film, as crows begin to gather, in one and two and three, on the jungle gym behind her. Apprehending an imminent attack, Melanie warned Annie, and they evacuated the children, and the crows attack.

After the incident, Mitch met Melanie at the restaurant, when gulls attacked a gas station attendant. As Mitch and others ran out to help the man in danger, the spilled gasoline was ignited by an unaware bystander's match, causing a series of explosions. During the escalating fire, Melanie and others also rushed out, only to become the target of more violent attacks by the gulls. Finding no other way, Melanie took refuge in a glass telephone booth, where she was trapped with birds striking all the sides of the booth, and watching in horror as mayhem erupted around the town. The firemen could do nothing to extinguish the spreading fire, as they were also under the horrific attacks by the aggressive gulls. Eventually, taking the risk of his own life, Mitch saved Melanie, and they could return to the safety of the restaurant. The sequence, more violent than the others, features an incredible view of the entire distressed village, a rapidly raging fire, and the ghastly attacking gulls increasingly filling the frame.

After that, Mitch and Melanie went to Annie's house to fetch Cathy, and found the horribly scarred body of Annie's body on the porch; killed by the crows while protecting Cathy. They took a traumatized Cathy home, and at night, barricaded themselves in the family home, boarded-up all the doors and windows, as protection against any possible attach by the birds. Then came the last violent attack, which they defended successfully, after which the power went off. During that time, when everybody was asleep, Melanie stealthily crept upstairs, with a torch in her hand, to investigate a fluttering sound in the attic bedroom and discovered that the birds have pecked their way in through the roof. Suddenly, she was attacked by the birds, trapping her until Mitch pulls her out, and they all drove to San Francisco to take the heavily injured and traumatised Melanie to a hospital. The particular violent scene, shot over five days with live birds, left Tippi emotionally drained, and she had to take a week to recuperate.

After that, Mitch and Melanie went to Annie's house to fetch Cathy, and found the horribly scarred body of Annie's body on the porch; killed by the crows while protecting Cathy. They took a traumatized Cathy home, and at night, barricade themselves in the family home, boarded-up all the doors and windows, as protection against any possible attach by the birds. Then came the last violent attack, which they defended successfully, after which the power went off. During that time, when everybody was asleep, Melanie stealthily crept upstairs to investigate a fluttering sound in the attic bedroom and discovered that the birds have pecked their way in through the roof. Suddenly, she was attacked by the birds, trapping her until Mitch pulls her out, and they all drove to San Francisco to take the heavily injured and traumatised Melanie to a hospital. The particular violent scene, shot over five days with live birds, left Tippi emotionally drained, and she had to take a week to recuperate. However, as the birds continue their vicious attacks without any reasonable explanation, Mitch decides to leave their house. He arranges the Melanie's car ready for their escape and quietly moves the car out, while thousands of birds sit quietly around them in an uneasy truce, and the car radio reports bird attacks on nearby communities and the possibility of military intervention in the matter.

However, despite being vibrant, chilling and visually stunning, the final scene of The Birds could not fulfil the expectation of several viewers. However, Ub Iwerks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Special Visual Effects for his work in the film, while Tippi Hedren won a Golden Globe Award for The Most Promising Female Newcomer of the year, for her performance in the role of Melanie. Later, it was also selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in National Film Registry in 2016.