Birds get drunk on holly berries, crash into office building, die

CNEWS ^ | 2/11/05

[KidGlock]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Dozens of birds got drunk from eating holly berries, then crashed into the glass of an office building and died.

"It was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie," worker Denise Wilkinson said. "It was spooky. You could hear them where they flew into the glass."

Warm weather and an ample supply of berries attracted hundreds of cedar waxwings into the enclosed courtyard of the three-story building Tuesday.

The birds began getting drunk on the fermented berries. They got so loopy that some were falling off branches and others were slamming into the glass walls that enclose the courtyard, said Burgess Mills, the building's owner.

About half of the 100 birds that slammed into the building died, workers said.

Groundskeepers have tried to help the birds by putting tape on windows or nets over the holly trees to keep them from eating the berries, Mills said.

[Hildy]

"Don't Drink and Fly!"

[DainBramage]

I'd die to get drunk with Halle Berry.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Please explain to me what this line means: You could hear them where they flew into the glass

[NonValueAdded]

Kinda a cross between biting into a Nestle's Crunch and stepping on a potato chip, both while banging your elbow on a desktop.

[martin_fierro]

"HEY! I don't have a drinking problem! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!"

[devane617]

For many years while living in Texas I would have Black Grackles get drunk and pass-out in my yard. I called the local animal shelter once because I did not know what was happening. They ask me to keep any animals away from them and they would wakeup and fly away.
I had a holly tree with tons of berries that would ferment, and attract birds by the hundreds.

[stuartcr]

BMD - birds of mass destruction

[tiredoflaundry]

I don't let my birds have any berries until they are at least 21yrs old!

[KidGlock]

Please explain to me what this line means: You could hear them where they flew into the glass

"SPLAT..(Crunch!)...SPLAT-SPLAT... (Crunch!)...SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT"

[LittleMoe]

Maybe I should try putting berries in my new bird feeder. I can't seem to attract any birds in there and I have had it up for a week now.

[Bigturbowski]

"HEY! I don't have a drinking problem! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!"


The first sign of an avian alcoholic is denial.

[KidGlock]

Try a happy hour... dollar drafts.

[CharacterCounts]

This isn't a story unless they were driving SUVs.

[Pharmboy]

Ping for a Friday story...the drunk birds, not that they're hurting themselves, that is.

[PilloryHillary]

The liberals will have a difficult time with this one. Do they save the alcoholic birds by cutting down the trees with berries so they are no longer harmed or do they save the trees and get rid of the birds? Tough choice.

[boomop1]

WE have to protect drunk birds, the building must come down.

[azhenfud]

Very well laid out.

[Don Simmons]

I did the same thing once when I was 19.

Or was that LSD?

I forget....

[WestTexasWend]

Cedar waxwings are my favorite birds, and they never come to our feeders...they're only interested in the berries on our hollies, junipers & cedars. A few years back I was heartbroken to find seven dead on the deck from having flown into our windows. Now that I know there was a party going on it's a little easier to take...