Pokeberries are widely recognized as being a super food plant for birds. Scores of birds including the likes of bluebirds, cardinals, tanagers, brown thrashers, hermit thrushes, quail, catbirds, and scores of others consume the plant’s large, juicy, purplish-black berries. However, it is not common knowledge that birds can become intoxicated from eating the berries.
This situation is most common late in the year when they eat pokeberries that have become fermented. While fermented pokeberry juice will not kill them, it can definitely leave them addled enough to become susceptible to predators such as hawks and the family cat.
I must admit that, although each year the pokeberries growing in my yards are laden with berries, I have never seen a bird get drunk eating them. Perhaps the reason for this is my wildlife neighbors gobble them up long before they have a chance to become fermented.
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Thanks for sharing that great article!
Pokeberries and many other late fall ripening berries (flowering dogwood, mountain laurel, arbor vitae) are a great way to supplement your quail pets diet, for free. I always nab a few berry twigs during our evening dog walks to feed my “protien makers” (quail). If you’re not raising quail and growing your own protien, you’re not paying attention to the attack on our food supply. My Facebook and YouTube channel will help you start this “egg a day” Grow your own protein hobby. Raising quail is a skyrocketing business opportunity as well, as we help our neighbors become self sufficient.
TullyRiverQuail
Reading, PA
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences concerning pokeberries, quail, and wild habitat. As a friend once told me, “Wildlife needs three things—habitat, habitat, habitat.”
Terry