There’s a scene in Top Gun Maverick in which the mission trainees are about to run the simulated bombing run course. The scene begins by showing a flock of large birds on the desert floor about to take flight.
The scene progresses to show Maverick’s F-18 harassing the trainees as they try to fly the difficult course; Maverick is playing the role of an enemy fighter. Later in the scene, after the trainees have been shot down in the simulation, one of the birds from the beginning of the scene strikes Mavericks canopy and then more birds strike another F-18 and get sucked into one of its engines. First one engine bursts into flames, and then the other.
Maverick calls out, “Bird Strike, bird strike!” You know Chekov’s gun – you don’t show a flock of birds in a story unless they have a significant role later in the story. It’s a bit of storytelling parsimony.
We have the occasional bird strike here at home. If your home has lots of windows, you probably get the occasional dove or sparrow striking your windows too. We have a four-panel French door that opens out onto our front deck. Each panel has a decal to help warn birds away. Still, birds come to drink and bathe at the deck’s two water features, and they can become confused as regards the safe directions for flight. Several times a year, a bird flies headlong into the door glass. Most of these strikes are non-fatal. The stunned bird lies on the deck for a bit, regains its bearings, and flies away. Unfortunately, it is not always so.
Today, this lesser goldfinch crashed into the door glass and fell on the deck – its wings spread. “Bird strike, bird strike!” I thought silently. After a minute, it sat upright and folded its wings. It sat there, very still, for at least five minutes, and then it suddenly took flight – away from the doors this time.
At least the little guy didn’t get sucked into an F-18 engine.