Drunken flocks on fruit eating binge (Fla)

[Donna]

The birds -- hiccup -- are back.

Dick Beal looks out the window of his Cocoa Beach home to see his truck covered in the aftereffects of robins that gorged themselves on palm berries in his yard.

"They seem to like my pickup truck for a bombing target," Beal said.

But they're not just eating.

Experts say they're getting drunk, too, on berries left fermenting after the freezing temperatures on the Space Coast this winter.

Every year, birds such as robins migrate to warmer climates, arriving from weeks or months of flying south. They begin feeding on the abundant fruits here -- everything from palm berries to Brazilian pepper seeds.

But during the coldest part of the season, plants stop sending nutrients to limbs, leaving the berries hanging out to rot.

"It affects (the birds') brains much the way alcohol toxicity affects ours," said Laura Erickson, Cornell Lab of Ornithology science editor. "It can particularly happen after events like frost. The sugar just starts to ferment."

Dane Culbert of the University of Florida's extension service said he has seen hundreds of orange-breasted robins congregating in his yard in the past two weeks.

"They were coming through, and it's like, 'Where's Alfred Hitchcock?' " he joked, in reference to the classic 1963 thriller "The Birds."

And some birdwatchers report that the robins are not just rockin' -- but teetering and tottering, too, which can lead more often to them flying into car windshields or glass windows and doors -- or just making a mess on vehicles and yards like Beal's.

Erickson urged homeowners not to plant berry-producing bushes close to roads or windows.

"That, at least, prevents them from having accidents," she said.

[rushhen06]

I had highbush cranberry bushes in my back yard until the boar got them some years back.
Every spring Cedar Waxwings would converge on them for the berries.  It was comical to watch
as they "rocked and rolled" from the fermented berries.  I miss seeing that.

[Donna]

I had highbush cranberry bushes in my back yard until the boar got them some years back.
Every spring Cedar Waxwings would converge on them for the berries.  It was comical to watch
as they "rocked and rolled" from the fermented berries.  I miss seeing that.

I can't imagine!