Alcohol poisoning, not avian flu, killed Romanian birds (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Birds that were thought to have died from avian flu in Romania instead apparently drank themselves to death.

Residents of Constanta in eastern Romania found dozens of dead starlings on the outskirts of the city on Saturday.

They alerted authorities, fearing the birds had died from avian flu.

But local veterinary officials decided the starlings had died after eating grape 'marc' - the leftovers from the wine-making process.

The head of the local sanitary and veterinary authority, Dvsva, told news agency Agerpres that analysis of the starlings' gizzards showed they had died from alcohol poisoning.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12170571

[immoderate]

1. That explains the smiles.

--imm

[Gregorian]

2. Aha! This is one of the things I mentioned in the Geyserville bird deaths.

I watched the huge flocks swarming around the grape vines that had just been harvested. Having a vineyard I know that grapes are left on the vine. The ones that don't meet the sugar content stay. And this year was a bad one, with lots of grapes left on the plants. My guess is the same thing happened to the birds in California.