Boozy birds fall from the sky after eating fermented berries

[clydebirder]

By Claire Murphy


Friday March 13 2009

Irish bird watchers were left horrified after a dozen rare birds were poisoned in a Dublin suburb.

Bird experts were initially perplexed after a group of birds fell to the ground apparently drunk.

About a dozen rare Waxwing birds dropped from their perches in a tree in Glasnevin, Dublin, last week.

A representative from Birdwatch Ireland explained that the birds, which had arrived from Northern Scandinavia, migrate to warmer climes when the berry crop has failed in their country of origin.

The avian visitors were taken with Irish hospitality and reportedly overindulged on berries from the Rowan tree which had fermented into alcohol. Irish birds are wary of eating the berries responsible while the Scandinavian birds are more adventurous and are not as wily to the dangers of the potent fruits.

Residents in Willow Park Avenue had reported seeing a number of exotic looking birds in the area and avid birdwatchers turned up to record the details of the birds.

However, they were shocked when last Tuesday, they witnessed a group of these birds from the flock fall to the ground.

Ornithologist, John Fox from Fairview witnessed the obscure sight when he travelled to the estate in Glasnevin.

"I picked up seven of the birds from the road," said Mr Fox. "They were live when I got to them, but they died shortly afterwards.

"There was a flock of over 100 in the tree, moving from tree to tree," he said. "Some of them were very quiet in the tree. When a bird starts to feel ill it wouldn't have the energy to continue to feed."

The birds, as Niall Hatch from Birdwatch Ireland explained, eat up to three times their own weight in berries.

"They have a ferocious appetite. It has been noted in the past that they suddenly drop unconsciously dead," Mr Hatch said.


Hungover

"One theory is that the sugar contained in the berries have fermented and have become alcohol. Like humans who have taken too much alcohol, the birds behave in a drunken fashion."

The Birdwatch Ireland representative said that the birds can become comatose and hungover and often pass out from the affects of the alcohol.

"The fall from the tree kills them rather than the alcohol poisoning itself. He advised anyone who discovers the birds to place them in a dark box with some bedding until the affects wear off.

Experts from the Department of Agriculture took the dead birds for testing but as other cases of this had occurred before, representatives were not said to be too concerned.

clairemurphy@herald.ie

- Claire Murphy