Cheat Seeking Missiles: Pelicans Under The Influence

Nearby Laguna Beach is always good for a tale or two, but this is one of the best ... and stick with it because there's an interesting tidbit at the end:

Four pelicans suspected of being drunk on sea algae were being tested at a Southern California wildlife center Saturday after one of them crashed headlong into a car.
Three of the California brown pelicans were found wandering dazed in the streets of Laguna Beach after another pelican struck a vehicle's windshield on a nearby coast road.

It suffered internal injuries and a long gash in its pouch and was undergoing toxicology tests.

Officials at the Wildlife Care Center said the seabirds may have been under the influence of algae in the ocean that can produce domoic acid poisoning when eaten. (Reuters)

The wealth of America always amazes me, particularly when it is showered on our pets and wildlife. But that's not the promised tidbit. Here it is:

Shellfish tainted with domoic acid was thought to be the culprit behind a 1961 attack of seabirds on people and cars in the oceanside California town of Capitola that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's horror movie "The Birds."

They didn't teach me that in college ... and I took a class, "Auteurship and the Cinema," on Hitchcock and Wells. Daddy's money well spent.