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Jane Johnson (books)

In Poland, waxwing birds love to eat fermented fruit, get drunk and then lie insensible on the pavement.
People collect them and put them in a safe place until they sober up... #OurBeautifulWorld
Thanks to @StateofPoland for the photo.

10 small coloured birds lie insensible on a pavement.
235 comments
Coral 🦉

@JaneJohnsonBakr I was (very very) briefly SO UPSET about this photo, but then I read the text and was delighted. Thank you for posting this!

Renée

@coral omg SAME, I was like "omg the waxw---THOSE RUMMIES" @JaneJohnsonBakr

morgunkorn

@coral well I have bad news... this story has been debunked by the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds reddit.com/r/birding/comments/

CautionWIP 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈

@JaneJohnsonBakr In Montreal we had the same issue with 18-20yr old Bostonians. :)

Carey :blobcatverified:

@JaneJohnsonBakr Here in New Zealand it’s the #kererū (wood pigeons) that get into that kind of trouble, like these unfortunate specimens: youtu.be/AusFJRJcXi0

Kit Indigo

@JaneJohnsonBakr @carey Aww. Drink a lot of fluids little hangover squirrel.

Kit Indigo

@carey @JaneJohnsonBakr Unfortunate? You know those birds seek that and are loving life! for it.

LASunshine

@carey @JaneJohnsonBakr aw, too bad we have to let facts get in the way of a great yarn.

Jo Fountain

@carey @JaneJohnsonBakr I immediately thought of our kererū when I saw this 😊

JMD

@g1comics @JaneJohnsonBakr yes the post was gake, the photo true and sad - dead birds and apparently not on Poland.

artisanrox

@g1comics @JaneJohnsonBakr

oh nooooooo😭 oh well...i've always preferred the cold hard realities instead of comfortable untruths :sadness:

princelysum

@g1comics @JaneJohnsonBakr One wonders what to believe alongside the birds in Aotearoa and the squirrels

Avishek 🇧🇩 :catjam:

@g1comics @JaneJohnsonBakr I was scrolling the thread hoping that I'd find at least person doing the fact-checking. Thank you for that. It's sad that nobody questioned the authenticity of the caption.

Mayor of Nerdocrumbesia 1️⃣

@Avishek @g1comics @JaneJohnsonBakr

I agree. However, I find it more sad that we HAVE to question everything now - even photos - as real or truthful.

It seems like everything is a lie, not just the obvious lies which are ignored or embraced.

ArgentCorvid

@JaneJohnsonBakr The neighborhood family of Raccoons would get into the mushy apples under the neighbor's tree every year with similar results. 😆

🍑💨

@JaneJohnsonBakr Oh to be a waxwing bird, lying insensible and drunk on the pavement!

Mrinappropriate

@Karstan @JaneJohnsonBakr I think I can assist you in your aim by directing you to one or two establishments

pera

@JaneJohnsonBakr this is really funny, it reminds me to the marula fruit which is eaten by several animals in Southern Africa for the same reason 😅 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sclero

Alchemist

@JaneJohnsonBakr My mother told me that crows would do that sometimes, but not to the point of passing out.

SamuelJohnson

@Alchemist_Final @JaneJohnsonBakr I had a pet crow who my father shared some of a bottle of Guinness with after working in the garden. He was affected quite quickly - - wings drooping, a bit staggery, eyes glazing over (closing nictitating membranes). Had to be ushered away to sleep it off.

Jon Awbrey

@JaneJohnsonBakr

When I lived in Houston Texas the mockingbirds would get drunk on fermented figs, stagger along the top of our redwood fence, and eventually tumble off.

Agora

@JaneJohnsonBakr WTF🤣🤣🤣
They need a dry January like me.

iris ✿ sandwalker

@JaneJohnsonBakr this is so cute 😄 here in Australia a similar thing happens when #lorikeets munch on overripe figs and then stagger around the place babbling to themselves before lying down for a snooze 😅

Diniz Bortolotto

@JaneJohnsonBakr @gutocarvalho so they are alive?!? Fascinating!

Elisabeth :verified:

@JaneJohnsonBakr @sonyajean26 imagine collecting drunk birds to bring inside your apartment.

sonya ✨

@elisabethshelby the concept is so funny that I’d ALMOST be willing to do this

Tofu Golem

@sonyajean26 @elisabethshelby
I would be terrified of bird vomit. I already have enough to clean at home, thank you very much. 😝

There is No Dana

@JaneJohnsonBakr This is so interesting. They do this in Canada too

AsISeeIt

@JaneJohnsonBakr
Pigeon do that in Kansas. Corn spilled along tracks that get rained on ferment. Pigeon will drop out of the sky and stagger around.

Deb4+ aka Deborah DT 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

@JaneJohnsonBakr there's a parable here ... But I'm an Al Anon person and I'm just worried for their children

🤦🍾

ProgGrrl

@SpeedOfHuman @JaneJohnsonBakr

please tell me that’s not just a photo of a bunch of beautiful birds who are dead

Kaj of the Creek

@ProgGrrl @JaneJohnsonBakr While cedar waxwings *do* get drunk on berries sometimes, but the photo looks like birds that have struck a window. This can be caused by the disorientation, and while some birds who strike windows are temporarily stunned, only to recover later, I’m not certain all of those birds fall into this category.

#RiotsWork 2024 Challenge

No idea about this photo in particular (and i've never seen that many down for the count at one time), but I've personally held waxwings "drunk" from feasting on fermented berries. This has been known to happen to other birds too - but cedar waxwings are both well adapted to habitats in which they depend on this food source, and also seem to be lightweights with alcohol.

source: am bird nerd

@SpeedOfHuman @JaneJohnsonBakr @ProgGrrl

Fowl Hill

@JaneJohnsonBakr

Wild animals can't get drunk.

Civilization rocks.

Carolyn

@JaneJohnsonBakr In the Yukon, they have drunk tanks for them. nationalpost.com/news/canada/y

Some do die, but "...after thousands of years of eating an ethanol-heavy diet, evolution long-ago killed off all the lightweights in the waxwing population, resulting in a bird with an unusually robust ability to hold its liquor.

Waxwings are renowned extremely large livers and lightning-fast digestive systems to circulate alcohol through their body before it has a chance to poison them."

@JaneJohnsonBakr In the Yukon, they have drunk tanks for them. nationalpost.com/news/canada/y

Some do die, but "...after thousands of years of eating an ethanol-heavy diet, evolution long-ago killed off all the lightweights in the waxwing population, resulting in a bird with an unusually robust ability to hold its liquor.

@Lee_in_Iowa

@JaneJohnsonBakr I thought it was only the ones at my neighbor’s. They show up masse and eat his juniper berries and then wobble around or pass out in the branches for a while.

ShaneLee

@JaneJohnsonBakr Every day I learn how much humans and wildlife are alike 😉- this is silly and precious. Thank you to all who picked up these lil drunks and put them in a safe place.

Nomdeb

I think this article (to which I'm replying) is cc YOU @alexismadrigal :) :) I was delighted to just read your rescued cedar waxwing flew away and was fine. :) HT @JaneJohnsonBakr

#CedarWaxwing #DrunkBirds

Bette

@JaneJohnsonBakr I, too, like to do this. Wish I lived in Poland. The US doesn't care.

DELETED

@JaneJohnsonBakr I don’t want to think what would happen here, but I know.

Wendy Lady

@JaneJohnsonBakr do they give them little bloody Marys when they wake up? 😆

Chumchum Tumtum

@JaneJohnsonBakr I saw the pic first, assumed them to be dead, started reading, and became joyously relieved. Thank you for sharing!

myrmepropagandist

@JaneJohnsonBakr

Wouldn't it be better to put them in a place where you have gathered their family and friends to that you can stage an intervention when they wake up?

#MissedQuoteBoost

Fog

@JaneJohnsonBakr

I guess they can identify easily.
Still quite a humanistic story!

Walt Campbell

@JaneJohnsonBakr sure, waxwing birds do it and it's adorable; I do it and it's a misdemeanor!

artisanrox

@JaneJohnsonBakr

I didn't know I needed this factoid in my life but lol I did :owi:

JaneETowle

@JaneJohnsonBakr that is so sweet that people pick them up and put them out of harms way while they sober up

JMD

@JaneJohnsonBakr it's fake and the sad thing is that the birds are dead so nothing funny here

Chucos

@JaneJohnsonBakr lol cute. I bet they get cute little hangovers too. 😵‍💫

DELETED

@JaneJohnsonBakr
You gotta love these birds!! I thought I was the only one who did that!

Ryan Peters

@JaneJohnsonBakr I need more information on this in order to justify my identical behavior

LeeAnn Elkins

@JaneJohnsonBakr Unfortunately this is fake news- can you delete?

Ryan Peters

@JaneJohnsonBakr also, are they drunk or dead (because they ran into a tree)?

Old Hippie

@JaneJohnsonBakr We had Cedar Waxwings who eat fermented crab apples and then laid drunk on our porch. They need AA.

Lloyd Lemons

@JaneJohnsonBakr I wonder if they would do that with humans.

Ariel Knox

@JaneJohnsonBakr

I so love learning random Polish things. I didn't find out I was Polish until my 30's & had no exposure to the culture or people.

Richie Enameller

@JaneJohnsonBakr i love these guys! One of my favorite birds on the planet.

History on the Fox

@JaneJohnsonBakr When we had apple trees, in autumn the groundhog that lived in our backyard would eat the fermented windfalls and stagger around bumping into things. It was very entertaining!

dr jamesbicycle

@JaneJohnsonBakr
Bohemian waxwings on the Canadian prairies. They like mountain ash berries.

MauiWahine

@JaneJohnsonBakr I had squirrels that got drunk on fermented crab apples...hilarious.

Julio Jimenez

@JaneJohnsonBakr Bro, where are we?

We had lunch in the bike lane again. It’s ok, Jane moved us.

Dude, she’s awesome.

SunnySideUp

@JaneJohnsonBakr In Florida the robins come down here in the winter and eat Brazilian pepper berries that are over ripe and do the same thing. Too funny

Adrian

@JaneJohnsonBakr lol. Threw me for a curve. At first I thought they had succumbed. Thankfully they’re just lushes

belladonna

@JaneJohnsonBakr My daughter’s friends called her an Uber last weekend and sent her home. Better than driving her own car but not what I would consider a safe place.

GeePawHill

@JaneJohnsonBakr This has never happened to me. I mean, the collecting and being put in a safe place until I sober up. The rest, well, yeah, I got that.

Fiery Chord

@JaneJohnsonBakr
"I was the shadow of the waxwing, drunk!
In the false azure of the loud and punk;
I was the smudge of drunked feathered fly-
-ing birds in the inebriated sky.

(If you're one of Nabokov's heirs, I'm very, VERY sorry.) #poetry

wytchgsd

@JaneJohnsonBakr looks like any English town on a Friday night

A. d'Anvers

@JaneJohnsonBakr
omg! is that true?!
how long it takes them to recover?!

Roq

@JaneJohnsonBakr this is awesome and so wholesome! I wonder how many #natureisdrunk instances are out there.

Lynne

@JaneJohnsonBakr love this... We have a similar thing with Wood pigeons in NZ

Yhou Whraing

@JaneJohnsonBakr Looks like they'll need some tweetment at the next AA meeting. 🥂

Cat McGinn

@JaneJohnsonBakr I’m not sure whether I love this evidence of the sparkling beauty and kindness or humanity, or I just want to be a waxwing bird right at this moment. Either way, thank you for sharing.

DELETED

@JaneJohnsonBakr A recent Redit post has called this as fake news 🤔

Randahl Fink

@JaneJohnsonBakr I have been to music festivals where the camping area looked somewhat similar. 😀

Lizzie Clarke

@JaneJohnsonBakr In Australia it’s the Rainbow Lorikeets…they get drunk on nectar - or are having a super high sugar rush! They get louder the drunker they get.

Tim Erickson, @stpaultim

@JaneJohnsonBakr

I'd like to see a link to some verification for this story. Just because it's in a Tweet, doesn't make it true.

I tried to Google this and can't find any documentation of anything more than unusual alchoholic induced behavior, nothing about passing out on sidewalk to the point of humans having to move them.

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