Birds are getting ‘tipsy’ up north. But they should ‘sober up’ soon, police say

Just like humans who had a little bit too much to drink, some birds in Minnesota are appearing to be “under the influence” of alcohol.

And that’s because they did drink some alcohol. Well, sort of.

These birds — the ones “acting confused” and flying into cars and windows — might not have had too much to drink, but they did consume some alcohol through the berries they eat, according to a public notice from the Gilbert Police Department.

“The reason behind this occurrence is certain berries we have in our area have fermented earlier than usual due to an early frost, which in turn has expedited the fermenting process,” Chief of Police Ty Techar said in the statement posted to Facebook.

When fermentation occurs, “starch in the frozen berries is converted to sugar, and when they thaw again, yeast can enter the fruit and accelerate fermentation, yielding alcohol,” the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.

While this process is occurring early because of the frost, many of the birds have not migrated south yet, Techar said in the release. That’s why it appears birds have gotten more “tipsy” than in the past, he said.

“Most birds likely just get a bit tipsy, and very few people would be able to pick them out as intoxicated,” Meghan Larivee, a laboratory coordinator at a Canadian government agency told National Geographic in 2014. “However, every now and then, some birds just overdo it.”

She also said that when birds are under the influence, “they cannot coordinate their flight movements properly or at all, and they are unable to walk in a coordinated way.”

Laura Erickson, a Minnesota birding expert, told the Pioneer Press that “people have been hitting a lot of (the drunken birds).”

“It’s been scary for people to drive when you have a whole collection of little warblers that are flitting right on the road,” she told the newspaper.

Techar wrote in the release that several people have reported the drunk birds to police, but there’s no need to do that.

“They should sober up within a short period of time,” he said in the public notice.

There are a few bird-related situations in which you should call police, though. Those situations include the following, according to the release:

• “The Roadrunner jumping in and out of traffic on Main Street.”
• “Bigbird operating a motor vehicle in an unsafe manner.”
• “Angry Birds laughing and giggling uncontrollably and appearing to be happy.”
• “Any other birds after midnight with Taco Bell items.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Birds are getting ‘tipsy’ up north. But they should ‘sober up’ soon, police say."