Drunk Birds Crash Into Building's Glass

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Feb. 10) - Dozens of birds, drunk from eating holly berries, crashed into the glass of an office building and died earlier this week.

"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 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.

 

Isn't it amazing how human-kind and all of the things we build continue to destroy the natural order of things??? A simple thing like glass, a harmless sheet of glass destroyed 50 birds, birds that otherwise would have slept it off in a bush.

 

and that my friend is why I don't do windows....It helps keeps all the little birdies alive!!!

 

The same thing happens on the quad at Eastern Illinois University in late spring almost every year (so I've been told by some of their prestigous alumni)...apparently the student have an annual party for it...

 

I guess next the birds will be carded before they can eat the berries and buy rattle cans of paint.

 

I have heard that in Belgium or Switzerland, or one of those European Countries, that Moose or a similar large animal eats apples from under the snow that have fermented/rotted. They get drunk off of them then womder around, including on the road. Imagine a 500+ pound animal drunk, he would of gone threw the building!
Al

 

so that is why the waxwings ate all my holly berries,their way of a hang over.

 

Migrating birds here in FL do the some thing. Many die anyway, as they are helpless against predators when they are slammed. BTW, a 500 lb moose would be a baby!

 

I think it's a little bit of a long shot to bring in the topic of humans destorying natural habitats on this one, dontcha think?

Yes humans put animals out sometimes...but I think in this situation it's just a fact of the two existing, if anything it's the bird's fault for eatting those, stuff happens.

It's hard for me to think that a building with glass could be strongly associated with distrubing wildlife in this situation.

 

I think you'll find that glass causes problems for birds all over, whether they're drunk or not. I've also seen people walk into patio doors by mistake, unfortunately for the birds, when it happens to them they're travelling a lot faster.

 

I agree....birds hit glass sometimes...so what...my opinion is that bringing in the "humans are interfering with habitat" concept into the mix on this situation, is a bit of a stretch...


If we were talking about the forests being ruined, it would be a more appropriate situation to mention/bring up the "humans interfering with habitat" issue.

I do not feel that birds hitting glass is an example of how humans are interfering with habitat....which is kind of what the user was implying (atleast that is how i took it)...

 

i had a pet perikeet(sp) when i was younger that had crashed into my window and hurt itself

 

It's not a long shot; The waxwings are grabbing up the last food in sight, and what food is left there is probably 10 percent of the resources that occurred naturally 300 years ago. I think that the human species has destroyed this world, only we don't want to face it yet. I'll just give reminders once and a while.
I'm no tree hugger, but I know what damage is happening. Every road, post, building ,sign, wire, dam, garbage dump, plastic bottle, and every article of human presence directly affects the natural cycle of the world. I know the world is a tough place, we will eventually rule it all by ourselves without the wild animals that ruled it before us.

 

I agree and disagree at the same time....

I still think that it's stretch, but ultimately you're right...

Humans are their own worst enemy, I think that we won't rule the earth because I think we'll destroy it and ourselves. With fear of a political discussion coming from this, i say it hoping the conversation wont blow up, but I believe over the last 100 years or so we've made huge strides in silently destroying ourselves. Most people are not aware of the "damage" our evolution has caused, it is evident in many places. Just the womens rights movement has flowed into a revolution where mothers are out of the house, kids are being raised by day care...etc etc...people accept it and most don't believe it as a negative thing, but just a change, but ultimatley it's a bad thing. Moving away from the stereotypical situation of housewife, working husband, childred close by at home, has negatively impacted the world in most ways...

I say with confidence that our world will be most displeasurable in some way by the time I'm old. The world has changed so much in the last 100 years, the next 100 years will change even more...

 

Well, then Start the revolution! Give up your Material possestions, turn off your computor and march, March i say, out your door to the wooded hills in the distance and co-exsist with your furry lil friends and turn you back on all that is evolutionary... or just quit whineing about them flyin rats and go on with life, we will get ours in the end and the earth will continue. IMO