The Birds

Village of Bodega Bay and Taylor Street

Birds Arriving at Dusk

Seagulls rule at Bodega Bay

We enjoyed our time in Bodega Bay with its pretty undulating barren hillsides and we were fascinated by the strange behavior of the birds.  Each evening, seagulls would begin to congregate along the finger piers next to our boat.  As the evening wore on, more and more birds arrived and by nightfall, dozens of seagulls were standing on the docks all facing the same direction.  The birds were gone by morning but would return each evening for their nightly ritual.  The following afternoon, we bicycled into the village of Bodega Bay and had lunch at the Tides Restaurant.  We found a picnic table overlooking the water and the birds started gathering around the wharf.  One bird hopped up on our table and looked directly in our face as if to say “give me some food or else.”  Perhaps these birds knew they had famous ancestors.  After all, Alfred Hitchcock chose Bodega Bay for the setting of his 1963 horror movie, “The Birds.”  One of the opening scenes in the movie shows actress Tippi Hedren driving into Bodega Bay on the winding scenic road above town, the scenery from Bay Hill Road appears much the same today.  The Tides Restaurant, which has since been rebuilt, was used for the gas station, café, and boat dock scenes.  Many of the shots of children running from the Potter School House were made on Taylor Street in the village of Bodega Bay.  The school house, now a private residence, is located in the town of Bodega six miles to the southeast.  Hitchcock wanted a quiet fishing village, fog, and stark looking hills for his horror movie and Bodega Bay fit the bill.  After our own encounter with the birds, we decided to watch the movie that night while the birds huddled just outside our windows.  Tourists still come to see the birds both literally and figuratively speaking and Tippi Hedren still makes regular visits to Bodega Bay for autographs.  Bodega Bay indeed has lots of birds and is home to over a 100 species, including cormorants, pelicans, terns, egrets, willets, oystercatchers, and numerious other species of birds.  It’s been said that more rare birds have been spotted in Bodega Bay than in any other area in Sonoma County, making Bodega Bay a bird watcher's paradise.

Birds Gathering at the Wharf

Give me food or else!

Potter School House Residence