One of the most famous hoax-stories of all time, being the
Martian Invasion in a field in New Jersey, back in the early
twentieth century.

Le Canard enchaîné (French: The Chained Duck or The Chained Paper) is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France. Founded in 1915, it features investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as a large number of jokes and humorous cartoons. It has a circulation of 446,000. It is one of the most respected and oldest French newspapers, despite its often humoristic tone

{Un canard signifiait en argot une histoire délibérément fausse, d'après le proverbe "vendre un canard à moitié", tenter de tromper l'acheteur.}
{A canard also is slang for a deliberately falsified story, after the proverb " vendre un canard à moitè", try to decieve the client.}
( as is in Anu's etymology)

Le Canard Enchaîné

Someone wrote in about drunken robins. I have a similar story about another species of birds. I have a large firethorn (pyracantha) in my front yard. It has bright red berries that ripen in the late Fall. Apparently they too turn 'alcoholic' when overripe. One year a couple of years ago, a flock of cedar waxwings came by and continuously ate berries for about 45 minutes, returning repeatedly. Many reeled from branch to branch and crashed into things, drunk as robins! Hilarious to watch!
Suddenly they were gone as mysteriously as they came. Don't know whether they saw the bright red berries or were attracted by the smell of the overripe berries (which I couldn't smell at all).

I have a neighbor who has a tree with red berries, and the
crows eat them and have the same intoxicating effect.
Welcome T.Kemper. Hope you enjoy your stay on the forums.

I guess I had not thought of the grape vines that cover a
large trellis covering a patio. The vines have been planted
to simply provide shade. The grapes are so few as to be of
little or no use, and are very bitter. When they go-a-fermenting
the crows get them and it is a delight to watch them fly
(in circles) trying to get aloft.