Thanks for the report! I grew up in Marin County, with a view over SF
Bay, and several Pyracantha bushes in the yard. Robins would regularly
get drunk on the lovely red berries and try to fly into the reflections
on the plate glass windows, sometimes falling two stories to the ground
below, where they'd lay dazed for a while until they woke up and
staggered off, taking a while to find their wings. Yes, good to keep
the kitties indoors!
<L>
Lou Judson =95 Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689
On Nov 30, 2006, at 9:00 AM, Wild Sanctuary wrote:
> Every year in this part of the country (N. California), the toyon
> berries ripen on the bushes still remaining in the non-agricultural
> undeveloped biological islands of Sonoma County. When the berries
> ripen, they ferment. Then - sometimes - the American robins gather in
> large numbers to pick away at them. After a while they get drunk and
> begin to stagger around the drive to our house, sometimes flying into
> windows and missing the phone and power lines when trying to land.
>
> This morning, a cold one (28F or -4C) in these here parts, was
> cloudless and beautiful except for the thousands of robins that
> descended on our property to partake of the seasonal delicacies. The
> soundscape was transformed and it's very noisy at the moment - a
> pretty funny spectacle. And we keep the cats inside.
>
> Bernie
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