This bird is well known for occasionally becoming intoxicated, sometimes fatally!

The Cedar Waxwing’s main food consists of fruits and berries. During times of the year when fruits are alternately freezing and thawing, fermentation can occur, producing alcohol. Birds consuming these fruits can become incapable of flight, and can even perish from alcohol poisoning.

Other species of birds that eat berries are also vulnerable to this problem, but the large flocks that waxwings often occur in make them especially conspicuous.