Subject: Boozy Berries Blamed In Death Of Robins
Date: Jan 12 23:22:51 1999
From: russeff - russeff at whidbey.com


Tweets,

Reprinting an unusual bird-related story...for your information!

Shannon, Whidbey Island, Zone 7

PS - has anyone heard of other cases such as this?

.......................

Tuesday January 12 7:52 AM ET

Boozy Berries Blamed In Death Of Robins

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (Reuters) - Boozy berries have been blamed in the
deaths of more than 100 California robins that
plummeted from the trees after a drunken binge on fermented fruit.

``They went on a toot with the berries, so to speak, and then went home
to roost,'' Bird Rescue Center expert Martha Bentley
told Monday's Santa Rosa Press Democrat after dozens of birds dropped
from the branches in one neighborhood on Sunday.

``It seems to be an alcoholic overdose from eating fermented berries,''
Bentley said.

Animal safety officers in this town north of San Francisco said it
appeared that the robins had feasted on privet berries that
have remained on the tree long enough to ferment this year because of
unusually cold weather and lack of rain.

While Bentley said her intoxication theory was a ``best guess'' and had
not yet been verified, she said it appeared that most of
the birds were killed directly by alcohol poisoning while others died
after hitting the ground.

``It was ice cold on the ground and since they were already
incapacitated, they didn't last long,'' she told the newspaper.

Three robins were found alive on the ground and were being kept in
incubators, according to Humane Society Officer Forrest
Templin, who said that tests would be conducted on the dead birds in
coming weeks to see if alcohol poisoning was indeed the
cause of death.

Bentley, who has more than 20 years experience with birds, said she was
shocked by the apparent mass poisoning, which
some local residents had originally feared might be linked to
pesticides.

``It's terribly sad,'' she told the Press Democrat. ``These were
beautiful, fat, prime-condition robins. It's terrible to see them laid
out on a table like that.''