Alien: Nostromo lander - Owl Design (1978) by Ron Cobb

leading from

Nostromo exterior concepts 
and
Creating The Nostromo

a) Ron Cobb's Nostromo lander - Owl Design
Seen from the front, the thrusters either side resemble wings and the windows resemble eyes enough to make this seem almost like an owl. The observation dome is seen at the top. And above is the clamp at the end of an arm.

This image is on Ron Cobb's site but linked to this page.
URL: http://roncobb.net/img/filmography/05-Alien/
PC156-on-Original_9_Nostromo_Owl_Design-alien.jpg
See also: Ron Cobb.net's Alien Gallery

b) The final Nostromo inheriting the owl configuration?
It's 26th July 2017, I am looking back at the final Nostromo lander trying to understand another element of its design. Looking at the design in light of the Cobb drawing, one might wonder if the idea of the configuration of an owl was kept in the final design with the unit containing the upper thrusters being the owl's head and the diagonal downward extended tubes at the side being like tips of out-stretched wings tips. However in this case, the owl head is at the back of the ship rather than the front. There is an inverted triangular shaped ridge beneath the front of the upper thrusters that in terms of this image could represent the beak

The final Nostromo lander

Thruster unit on the top that perhaps resembles an owl's head, with an inverted
angular shape beneath the centre of the two thruster intakes being similar to a beak

Owl walking with wings outstretched

 

 

c.i) Alien: Nostromo Lander - Owl design for Alien (1978) by Ron Cobb

c.ii) See: References  'The Snap-dragon-fly' for Lewis Carroll's Alice Through The Looking Glass (1871) by John Tenniel?

 

 

 

c.iii) See: Referenced in Motorised wheelchair (1997) by Sylvain Despretz for Alien Resurrection :