The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

I like to think that these birds are strategically placed. I get it, I really do, the cover is meant to be haunting and create intrigue. There are the blackbirds/ravens (okay, you can't really tell if they're those types of birds, or if they're just far away or have the sun on their left side casting a shadow on the birds' right side) that are typically omens of doom and are foreboding. Remember the birds from that movie "The Birds?" There was a kickass scene where all the birds are gradually congregating on the jungle gym outside of the schoolyard and Tippi Hedren tells the teacher and they all get the kids to take them home? But as soon as they start running the birds just haul ass and go apeshit?
It's like that, that's what the book cover reminds me of.
On the other hand, there is the image of freedom that the birds flying away represent. Birds being released and flying off has been used so many times to represent it, it isn't even funny- like the doves being released at the Olympics or when Princess Jasmine from the Disney animated film "Aladdin" releases the birds from their cage (y'know, 'cause Jasmine's like a caged bird!).
While we're at it, check out the bird on the lowest, left-most corner. What is that, two birds stuck together? A pelican? A mutant bird with two sets of wings?