‘Drunk’ Parrots Falling From the Sky in Australia

Hundreds of seemingly drunk parrots are falling out of trees and the sky in a northern Australian town, mystifying veterinary surgeons who are struggling to care for them. Photo: Flickr

Hundreds of seemingly drunk parrots are dropping out of the sky in the Northern Territory in Australia, mystifying veterinary surgeons who are struggling to care for them.

The brightly coloured lorikeets are showing classic signs of drunkenness by losing all co-ordination and passing out, after eating a mystery food, Lisa Hansen, of the Ark Animal Hospital at Palmerston, near Darwin said on Thursday.

“They definitely seem like they’re drunk,” said Lisa Hansen. “They fall out of trees… And they’re not so co-ordinated as they would normally be. They go to jump and they miss the next perch.”

Hansen said “drunk” lorikeets have been seen in Palmerston previously but never in such numbers, adding that the birds can die without proper care. “It happens every year around this season, they lose all balance and we find them fallen out of trees and the sky,” she said. “Unless someone intervenes, they can’t fly and will get picked up by predators.”

“It seems that the birds get intoxicated by something they have eaten and it renders them unable to fly and function… they can get very sick as a result.” Around eight to ten birds a day have been brought to the hospital after falling to the ground in backyards and along roadsides. There are now a total of 40 lorikeets receiving treatment.

“We are fairly certain it’s a plant, but we don’t know which plant. People talk about seeing drunken birds under umbrella trees when they are flowering,” says Lisa. “However, most say those birds recovered and flew away afterwards. That is not happening to these guys… sometimes they need intensive care before we can put them out in the aviaries.”

The birds are given sweetened porridge and fresh fruit — the avian version of hangover food. “It’s probably the equivalent of ice-cream and cans of coke for the lorikeets,” Hansen said. “They sit on the floor of the cage and rest their heads on the side, or they curl up in the corner and hide under the paper and block the rest of the world out.” It can take up to four weeks for the animals to make a full recovery, at which point they are released back into the wild.

Chris Tzaros, an ecologist and parrot expert at conservation group Birds Australia says he has had similar experiences with musk lorikeets, which are common in south-eastern Australia.

Chris said: “Those birds become drunk on eucalypt nectar. They feed in some blossom, and then fall out of the blossom, disoriented to the ground,” he told Australian Geographic. “These birds evolved to feed on eucalypt nectar all day long, everyday. It might be a particular time of the year when the nectar ferments or a particular tree which affects the birds.”

He suggests that if the red-collared lorikeets are taking three to four weeks to recover, it could be something more sinister such as mild poisoning. “I have not heard of anything like that, and it could be really interesting to observe what they are feeding on,” Chris said. “People who see and pick up sick lorikeets should try to observe the dietary items the birds nearby are foraging on.”

“They are magnificent creatures and I wouldn’t like to see us losing them over some mystery plant,” says Lisa. “So far, the numbers [of sick] are a small proportion of the birds living in the wild, but who knows what the future will bring?” he added.  [via Asylum (UK) and Australian Geographic (Au)]