Besides, the FAA will not allow the birds to fly with elevated blood alcohol levels.
________________________________ Kathy C. Weinberg Jenner & Block LLP 1099 New York Avenue, N.W. Suite 900, Washington, DC 20001-4412 | jenner.com<http://www.jenner.com> (202) 639-6868 | TEL (214) 673-1300 | MOBILE (202) 661-4930 | FAX [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Download V-Card<https://svcs.jenner.com/JBvCard/vcardhandler/getcardbypid/69373> | View Biography<http://www.jenner.com/people/KathyWeinberg> [cid:[email protected]] CONFIDENTIALITY WARNING: This email may contain privileged or confidential information and is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). Any unauthorized use or disclosure of this communication is prohibited. If you believe that you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your system. ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dave Nutter Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2014 12:20 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Inebriation in birds I am just speculating, but my thoughts are: * The drying process would preserve the fruit because the yeasts might be unable to function without water (I surmise), just as the bacteria cannot function with low water and high sugar concentrations (my understanding of why drying preserves fruit). * Any alcohol in the fruit would be as apt to evaporate as the water, or maybe more so, ethanol boiling at a lower temperature than water. * The birds would need water to reconstitute and digest the concentrated fruit. When I eat very dry food, my stomach hurts unless I also drink water, I think because the dried food draws too much water from my stomach. Water is needed for digestion generally to break up many larger molecules, although oxidation later on also creates water which I assume can be used for this. Birds don't carry around extra water. I often see waxwings drinking, and I think that's why. * I'm skeptical that birds who rely on old fruit have issues with inebriation. Birds are so finely tuned for flying that the drunks wouldn't survive, either hitting something or getting eaten. The selection pressure would be enormous. I think either there isn't much alcohol out there, or they know how to avoid it. * Cedar Waxwings are a bit quirky and different from other birds, which might be misinterpreted as tipsy. * A big difference between the dried fruit we eat, such as raisins, and the fruit birds eat is that we dry ours quickly and then keep it dry, stored out of the weather, whereas fruit on trees is exposed to precipitation, and wild fluctuations in temperature and humidity. It's a really good question what actually goes on inside a fruit hanging on a tree for several months. I bet it's very different depending on the size of the fruit (full-sized apples v crabapples v buckthorn & nannyberry). The skin of the fruit must play a huge role, too, in shedding and repelling water, and keeping out microorganisms. --Dave Nutter On Mar 06, 2014, at 11:40 AM, "W. Larry Hymes" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I recently wrote about cedar waxwings consuming snow, while at the time they were eating the dried fruit of Korean Ash. I raised the question whether they were perhaps doing this to dilute the alcohol in the fruit. Kevin expressed the opinion that there would be no juice, fermented or otherwise, in the fruit. He then asked, if I had ever gotten drunk eating raisins. The answer to that is no, particularly since raisins are _not_ made from overripe fruit. As to his statement about no juice being in dried fruit, there is some water content in raisins (up to 15%), although, of course, that is controlled in the drying process. If there were no moisture at all in raisins, it would be like eating hardtack! I would hazard to guess that there is some residual water, albeit very little, in naturally dried fruit. As I understand, alcohol is produced as fruit becomes over ripe. As moisture leaves the fruit, the alcohol will become more concentrated, with the highest concentration occurring during the winter months. The alcohol may help to preserve the fruit. I recall reading a post to Cayuga Birds long ago about someone observing unusual behavior in robins that had become tipsy from eating overripe fruit. Since cedar waxwings feed exclusively(?) on fruit, I could imagine that they could be more susceptible to becoming inebriated, if they were to consume fruit that has alcohol concentrated in it. This can be dangerous for the birds, since it makes them more susceptible to predation, and if they were to consume enough of it, they could die. All this made me wonder whether waxwings could have developed an adaptation for consuming water when eating overripe fruit in order to dilute their "drink". Kevin may well be right that the birds coincidentally were very thirsty at the same time they were consuming the fruit. By the way, I have no idea what the alcohol content might be in dried, overripe fruit of Korean Ash. I have not bothered to do a taste test! Does anyone know someone who might be willing to run an analysis? Larry -- ================================ W. Larry Hymes 120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 (H) 607-277-0759, [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ================================ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) [email protected]<http://www.mail-archive.com/%3ca%20href=>/maillist.html'>http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
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