I was a beach boy, and I believe I learned my songs from the birds of the Brazilian forest.
I studied Hitchcock a little bit at University and knew the famous story about the Birds - that he'd tortured Tippi for a day using real birds. I had no idea that it was a five-day onslaught and that it was the tip of an iceberg that carried on through to another film.
The successful pilots succeeded because they did not open fire until they were close to the target.