Science File / An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment. : Toxin May Have Caused Bird Attack That Inspired Film

What triggered the real-life outburst of crazed sea birds that partly inspired the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, “The Birds”? UC Santa Cruz biologist David Garrison suggests that in 1961, gulls and other sea birds in Monterey Bay suddenly went berserk--nipping several people--after eating a natural toxin found in plankton. Hitchcock, then in nearby Scotts Valley, read about the incident in a newspaper. The toxin, called domoic acid, is known to cause disorientation, violent spasms and death, and it can accumulate in the flesh of plankton-eating fish. “At the time, people thought the birds were just lost in the fog,” Garrison said of the storied avian attack. “But I think it’s likely they just had a big anchovy party.”