Birds on a Bender

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 26, 2001 | by Stephen Goode

It was just like Fort Lauderdale during spring break, except it wasn't Florida; it was California. And it wasn't migrating college students getting drunk but birds instead.

Birds began imbibing berries from bushes along Interstate 5 near the city of Redding, which is not unusual. But the berries the birds were downing happened to be a day or two into fermentation, so it was like they were sipping wine.

At the peak of their binge, birds were swooping into car windshields and bouncing off the asphalt as they careened from bush to bush downing more of the berries.

No accidents were reported, nor were any humans said to be harmed. Scores of birds met their end, though, according to Scripps Howard News Service, which reported the dew astation was particularly rife along the Cypress Avenue on- and off-ramps for the interstate.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Monty Hite said, "We usually like to get somebody out there so we can catch them for `flying under the influence.'" He added: "But we didn't catch them this time."

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