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Birds Flying Into Windows

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Anonymous

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http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/15/offbeat.drunk.birds.ap/index.html

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Thousands of drunks are smashing into windows at Karlstad University, but it isn't students blowing off steam.

Instead, birds feasting on fermented berries are getting drunk and playing chicken with the glass.

Thousands of waxwings began gathering in the trees outside the university late last week to feast on ripening rowanberries. The birds haven't learned to say when.

"So far some 50 drunk birds have lost their lives when crashing into the university's big windows," University spokesman Hans Jensen said. "But the worst is over, the berries are beginning to run out."

None of the windows at the university 140 miles west of the capital have been broken.

It's not the first time that birds and beasts have become inebriated in this Scandinavian country of 8.9 million.

In December, police in Karlskoga in central Sweden had to kill an intoxicated big-horned elk after it charged an 8-year-old boy.

The elk got drunk by munching on fallen alcohol-filled apples that fermented on the ground.
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Monkeys are, by far, the funniest to watch when they are inebriated.
 
Thats Waxwings for you!

They are highly erratic migrant visitors mainly because they are incredibly well powered fliers and can move quickly all over globe...and so they do. Brilliant looking bird. We had our best swarming of them two years ago and they do indeed favour Rowan and Elder I believe. Its always welcome here...drunk or not!:)
 
i love birdies. i love watching little wrens hop and flicker and socialise in a puddle or birdbath. they're so interesting and cute, not just wrens, but little birds in general.
 
Colud this excuse be used to get off a drink driving charge?

"Sorry officer, I must have eaten too many fermenting apples!"
 
synthwerk said:
i love birdies. they're so interesting and cute, not just wrens, but little birds in general.
Thanks sweetie :kiss:
 
A flock of waxwings came and sat in next door's rowan tree a couple of years ago- weird noise they make too,
en masse
 
Drunken birds fly into windows - that sort-of sounds like a track by Coil ;)
 
AH! good one
Drunken birds fly into windows - that sort-of sounds like a track by Coil

AH! good observation! like the third track in the trilogy of "Strange Birds" and "Red Birds Will Fly Out Of The East And Destroy Paris In A Night"
 
Lets face it birds arn't the cleverest of creatures are they?
( sorry beak )
I quite regularly pick up dead ones that have flown into the windows of the building i work in.
Am casulties from the east, Pm casulties from the west, i think they get confused when they see the sun reflected in the glass and just keep going. Its not restricted to any one breed either. large or small. :( :nooo:
 
bah...i see debris from human car wrecks on the road too ;)

some birdies are quite clever
 
Scott Bainbridge said:
I quite regularly pick up dead ones that have flown into the windows of the building i work in.
Have you never pushed a door that quite clearly says "Pull" on it?

Although, the repercussions are not lethal are they?
 
synthwerk said:
some birdies are quite clever
Especially when they can scadge a free drink...from a tree...bloody geniuses if you ask me! They probably dont need any I.D either?

It puts new meaning to the concept of "good lookin' burds get in free" at any night clubs you see.
 
Have you never pushed a door that quite clearly says "Pull" on it?
Not when sober no....
:_pished:
:_pished: :_pished: :_pished: :_pished:
Ahh this one shays fall on to open dushnt it?
 
At my doctor's surgery there are glass doors with "push" written on them so that it's visible on both sides. Even though the "push" is backwards on the pull side, everyone pushes it anyway. It's the only entertainment in the waiting room.
 
"Hsup? how do i hsup the door? and what's with Llup? how do i do that?"
 
Says a lot about the way the brain processes words doesn't it? Interesting really.

Beak "psychological anorak" Boo
 
There is a skyway crossing in Duluth that has
several PERFECT imprints of pigeons in mid-flight
on the glass. You can see every detail... it even
looks like one is saying "oh, shi..."

Gross, but darkly humorous...

TVgeek
 
Birds Die From Flying 'Drunk' Into Windows


Feb 2, 10:40 AM (ET)

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Experts who conducted tests on 40 songbirds found dead in Vienna say they didn't die of bird flu as initially feared, but slammed into windows after becoming intoxicated from eating fermented berries.

The birds - whose remains were carefully examined to ensure they were not victims of avian influenza - had livers so diseased "they looked like they were chronic alcoholics," Sonja Wehsely, a spokeswoman for Vienna's veterinary authority, told Austrian television Thursday.

All died of broken necks after slamming into windowpanes, apparently after gorging themselves on berries that had begun to rot, turning the juice inside to alcohol, Wehsely said. She said the juice probably continued to ferment as the birds digested the berries, causing them to become disoriented and fly into the panes.

Their discovery last month in a residential neighborhood of Vienna had triggered concerns that bird flu had reached the Austrian capital.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060202/D8FH2FV08.html
 
The spell of fine April weather continued into early May and whilst sitting outside in the garden to the front of the house I became aware of a strange “apparition” imprinted onto the living room window, the unmistakable form of an owl in flight.... at the moment of impact with the window (I will try to post photo’s along with this account) The appearance is of a Barn Owl, but it might also have been a Tawny Owl, neither are uncommon in the area (maybe someone more knowledgeable than I on the subject might have some suggestions if I am allowed to post the photo’s.) Again nothing supernatural but strange and somewhat eerie given the mythology surrounding owls as portents of death/transition, ill or good luck..... depending on ones preferred interpretation, and certainly something I have never before witnessed in this (or any) house previously.

20200515_165918-X.jpg
 
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Wait . . . did the owl hit the window and leave an imprint? Or . . . what? I've never heard of that before. I've seen bits of fluff where a gold finch has flown into the window, but never a full body imprint of one. :eek:
 
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Wait . . . did the owl hit the window and leave an imprint? Or . . . what? I've never heard of that before. I've seen bits of fluff where a gold finch has flown into the window, but never a full body imprint of one. :eek:

I think there is an exploding glass thread somewhere around here. It covers logical, non-poltergeisty reasons why glasses explode.

And please go back to the pub and collect some ghost stories and post them, please, please, please!
I have a pigeon imprint from one flying into a window of a corridor with glass at both sides.
09276F05-4302-4EB7-BBAC-97C4F8D586DC.jpeg
 
Wait . . . did the owl hit the window and leave an imprint? Or . . . what? I've never heard of that before. I've seen bits of fluff where a gold finch has flown into the window, but never a full body imprint of one...

The imprint is caused by the fine dust that covers bird feathers - it's a product of the breaking down of feather waste that occurs during preening and I seem to recall that it's thought to help with weatherproofing the birds live feathers.
 
I have a pigeon imprint from one flying into a window of a corridor with glass at both sides.
View attachment 28344
I remember seeing an almost identical full body pigeon imprint as yours above on my parent's bedroom window when I was very young .. my Dad explained that the bird had probably mistaken its own reflection for another attacking bird .. the fact that it had left an imprint on the glass was explained to me as a sort of dust that coats some birds feathers for water proofing but I can't remember the specifics of that theory.
 
The imprint is caused by the fine dust that covers bird feathers - it's a product of the breaking down of feather waste that occurs during preening and I seem to recall that it's thought to help with weatherproofing the birds live feathers.
Aaah .. thank you, my memory's better than I though it was :)
 
I remember seeing an almost identical full body pigeon imprint as yours above on my parent's bedroom window when I was very young .. my Dad explained that the bird had probably mistaken its own reflection for another attacking bird..

I think the theory now is that birds simply don't register glass as a thing, and see a window as an open route to be flown through. Thus, they tend to fly into the windows of clearly lit rooms, and not those with blinds or curtains closed, or where the room is very dark (making the glass look opaque). Also, larger areas of glass tend to be more of a problem - especially if the bird can see through to a clear window on the other side of the building.

As long as they are positioned correctly, window bird feeders are actually considered safe - even the RSPB sell them these days - which probably wouldn't be the case if birds went mental at their own reflections as a matter of course. (I think some species do get aggressive, especially during mating season - it happens, but it's not that common; birds tend to tweet the buggery out of each other, rather than get punchy.)
 
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