Migratory Bird Species Learns Tough, Boozy Lesson

Apr 21, 2010 10:45 pm US/Central

By Jane Slater

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― Filled with drunken, half-alive birds, Richard Nagg said a street near his home Wednesday was quite the sight.

"The whole street was covered with birds and some were alive and some were dead, some were just kind of lying there like they were lethargic," Nagg said.

Cedar waxwings are migratory birds that get their name from their wax-like wingtips. The birds would have been headed to Canada, but it appears 140 of them became entranced with the sweet berries on the Yaupon bush.

"Every single one of them had a mouthful of berries," said Nagg.

Garland and state wildlife officials said they initially thought it was pesticide but said toxicology results showed it was really just too much of a good thing.

"There is alcohol in fermented berries that can literally make them drunk more or less and in some cases it's at a toxic level," said Jason Chessher, spokesman for the City of Garland.

While many said it was a shame to lose the birds, the bigger concern came this morning when there were reports of 40 dead cedar waxwings dotted along State Hwy. 66 on the Rowlett to Rockwall Bridge.

Officials said those birds died while trying to fly impaired from one canopy of trees to another across the road.

"I saw a few of them get hit while I was out there," said Martin Oviedo with the Texas Game Warden.

Officials said the problem should persist for another month or so. But in the Garland neighborhood, there have been sightings of the Cedar waxwings, but no dead ones this week.

From: http://cbs11tv.com/local/drunk.birds.migrate.2.1648889.html