The State - News from Feb. 10, 1985

Hundreds of birds have been eating fermented berries and flying beak-on into cars on U.S. 101 near San Jose, officials said. “It’s been a field day for cats,” said Karen Fraad of the Santa Clara County Humane Society. The birds, mostly robins, have been dying by the hundreds, and at least one multi-car accident is believed to be related to the boozing birds. Fraad said the birds become drunk after eating the small red berries of the pyrocantha plant on the east side of the freeway, about 50 miles south of San Francisco.