That’s bird day, not birthday. Today (Jan. 5) is National Bird Day. I considered celebrating the occasion by flipping the bird to everyone I see, but a nicer way would be to watch Hitchcock’s masterpiece, The Birds.

One of my favorite film scenes is the wonderful diner scene in The Birds. A self-proclaimed bird expert scoffs at Tippi Hedren’s assertion that birds attacked schoolchildren, while a drunk repeatedly warns that it’s the end of the world, and a fretful mother lambasts everyone for frightening her children before she flees with them. Happily, the movie trailer below includes some snippets from that scene.

The Birds movie trailer (1963)

A few years ago, I went to a Tippi Hedren autograph signing at the Tides Wharf in Bodega Bay. I pointed out to Ms. Hedren that had the film been made today, there would have been no phone booth to provide refuge for her character, and she would have had her eyes pecked out. (Well, I didn’t say the part about the eyes.) The gracious star indulged me politely, saying, “Why, I never thought of that.”