Tippi Hedren was actually cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots.
Tippi Hedren's character plays "Deux Arabesques" by Claude Debussy (1888) while at the Brenner house for dinner.
Tippi Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith was given a present by Alfred Hitchcock during the filming: a doll that looked exactly like Hedren, eerily so. The creepiness was compounded by the ornate wooden box it came in, which the young girl took to be a coffin.
Alfred Hitchcock approached Joseph Stefano (screenwriter of Psycho) to write the script, but he wasn't interested in the story. The final screenplay (from a Daphne Du Maurier short story) was written by Evan Hunter, best known to detective-story fans under the pen name Ed McBain.
Alfred Hitchcock disliked filming on location, so he filmed as much as possible in the studio on-set.
Alfred Hitchcock kept a graph in his office, charting the rise and fall of the bird attacks in the film.
Alfred Hitchcock saw Tippi Hedren in a 1962 commercial aired during the Today show and put her under contract. In the commercial for a diet drink, she is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile. In the opening scene of the film, the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock: at the start of the film walking two dogs out of the pet shop (the dogs were actually his own).
Rod Taylor claims that the seagulls were fed a mixture of wheat and whiskey. It was the only way to get them to stand around so much.
Daphne Du Maurier's story "The Birds" was originally purchased for use on Alfred Hitchcock's television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
A number of endings were being considered for this film. One that was considered would have showed the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds.
A scene in the film shows a service station where a bird knocks over an attendant filling a car with gas. The gas flows across the street where a man lights his cigarette igniting the gas. The fire follows the gas stream to the pump and explodes. The service station was located across from "The Tides" restaurant and pier. In reality this service station did not exist at the time of the filming. However, several years later a service station was built and is still located at the spot shown in the film.
Actress Veronica Cartwright celebrated her 13th birthday during the filming of The Birds.
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions copyrighted The Birds twice; on 28 Mar 1963 with a running time of 119 minutes and on 20 Apr 1963 with a running time of 120 minutes. Filming March 5-July 10 1962.
Alhough there is no musical score for this film, composer and Alfred Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann is credited as a sound consultant.
Also attending the London premiere were two flamingos, 50 red cardinals and starlings, and six penguins.
Although it was never shot, another ending was scripted by Evan Hunter and sketched by Harold Michelson. The script and sketches appear as a bonus feature on the DVD version.
Before filming the final attack scene when Melanie goes upstairs to her doom, Tippi Hedren asked Alfred Hitchcock , "Hitch, why would I do this?" Hitchcock's response was, "Because I tell you to."
Before the release of the film, Tippi Hedren was featured on the cover of Look magazine with the caption "Hitchcock's new Grace Kelly."