Drunken parrot season begins in Darwin, Australia
Australian Geographic:
Carers in Darwin say they are bracing for hundreds of sick birds, as the annual ‘drunk lorikeet’ season rolls around. It happens each year towards the end of the dry season and the beginning of the wet in October-November.
Experts say they are not sure if the lorikeets are actually drunk, but they do have tell-tale symptoms. “They exhibit odd behaviour like falling over or difficulty flying [and] they keep running into things,” says Darwin vet Dr Stephen Cutter from The Ark Animal Hospital.
On the one hand this sounds entirely too cute, but it seems like their hangovers are pretty serious.
But the disease – which sees the birds falling from trees and staggering around streets – is far more dangerous to the birds than a hangover is to people. About half of the birds brought into her shelter with the symptoms will die.