Young blackbirds found dead at a primary school in Cumbria suffered from alcohol poisoning, according to an investigation.
Animal health specialists were called to examine a dozen birds found in the playground, many with trauma injuries.
Post-mortem analysis revealed that one of the birds had a large amount of pure alcohol in its liver.
Scientists suggest the birds sustained their injuries in flight because they were intoxicated by fermented berries.
BBC Nature – Dead birds were intoxicated, an investigation finds
Disrupting the Borg is expensive and time consuming!
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Not surprised. I’ve watched mocking birds and grackles eat persimmons that have fallen off the tree and fermented — you could smell the alcohol when you got close to the tree. They would eat until they could not stand, much less fly.
Great. Now we are going to AA groups for birds.
As a teenager I had a Japanese shotia tree outside my bedroom. Every spring morning Rainbow Lorikeets – a gaudy and noisy Australin parrot – would gather to eat the fermenting berries.
There is nothing like 50 or more drunken, raucous parrots fighting over the “booze” at sunrise – many simply falling out of the tree and laying on their backs while they recover.
True.
It’s global warming that dun it! /sarc
It isn’t only blackbirds: