Oddly behaving little garden birds

[shivvy]

Recently I have spotted a couple of birds coming to the garden who don't seem to be quite right. The first was a greenfinch and then a little sparrow. They seem to look/behave in an odd but similar manner ie:

very fluffed up,
hunkered very close to the ground,
ruffled feathers,
not eager to perch on branches or unstable surfaces,
less timid when approached,
diffs with beak or problems with eating seed,
spending a lot of time on the ground and looking upwards.

This probably sounds a bit odd.
Initially we thought it was a one-off little bird who had maybe flown into a window and had been a little 'affected' by it. Now that we have seen it on a couple of occasions we are thinking that it might be something other than 'window damage'.
Any ideas anyone?

[divegirl]

Hi, could they have been eating fermenting berries? Maybe they're a little tipsy....lol

[shivvy]

Oh I do hope so divegirl!
;o)

[Breezy23]

Think I've seen something about this on the following website although can't immediately locate it.
www.bordersbirds.co.uk
I believe they may be suffering from some sort of disease possibly from eating contaminated food.

The website is well worth a look, fantastic photos. Sorry I don't know how to enter it as a link.