A Bird in Our House–What To Do?

What kind of bird was it? We had no idea, but the poor creature flew down inside our wood burning stove’s pipe that’s about fifteen feet long and twittered for help, “Get me out of here!”

This has happened before, so we knew we had an unsolvable task before us. We thought about it for a couple days–my husband feared in our trying to rescue the bird, he would escape in the house and then the problem just got bigger.

Each morning, our visitor’s chirping from the stove reminded us of our visitor. My cat didn’t seem to notice him in the stove.

So Lin formed a plan. Carefully he lifted the top lid off the wood burning stove and partially slid a paper bag across the opening to minimize the size of space we needed to negotiate. He did that quite easily.

Then he positioned a large plastic bag over the top of the stove and opened the top. I moved the paper bag over more to restrict the area of escape–the bird did nothing. We both thought he’d fly towards the opening and the light, but he didn’t. He fluttered a little then nothing.

So I kicked the front of the stove and screamed and hollered–he moved, he fluttered his wings but that was it. I repeated the noise; he did nothing. What now? He had been captive for two to three days–was he weak? Near death? He must be because he was doing nothing to save himself.

Plan B went into affect. Lin put on heavy gloves he uses around the stove and opened the top of the stove completely to grab the captive bird. Easily and quickly, he escaped Lin and flew out, so our problem exploded. What now?

We have 25 foot high ceilings in the living room so getting to the bird was impossible. Lin opened the front door of the house and used a bird app to lure the free bird outside, but he perched himself up on a window looking outside and chirping for help. He could see where he wanted to be and fixated on it and ignored anything we did.

I grabbed a stick to poke at him, but I’m too short. Lin could reach him, but the prodding didn’t work. The crisp November air quickly cooled the room down, so we had to close the door. I called a friend I thought might help, but she had no suggestions.

We left the bird alone after some more coercing. He spent the night free in our house–roosting somewhere in the house during the night, quiet and peaceful.

The next morning we woke up to him chirping again. We left the bird alone for a while, but he moved up to our loft area and the ceiling is about seven to eight foot high–much easier access. He was fluttering around the windows there, seeing the outside where he wanted to be, so I grabbed a hat and moved closer to him. Slowly I inched closer, and he got flustered zooming back and forth between two pictures on a window sill. I threw my hat on top of him and grabbed him gently.

Surprisingly he didn’t try to fly away; he just laid in the hat with my hand over him. I opened our bedroom door, asked Lin to open the door outside, and I set him free!

What an experience and what lessons for sure! How many times have I behaved like that little bird–after being freed from something that felt like a prison, looked out at my surroundings with blinders and knew I wanted what was out there–whatever “out there” was!

Often, in the past, I have ignored the help extended to me by family and friends and kept my eyes focussed my “salvation” out there! 

I also have identified with how the bird was rescued. Someone persistently crowded in on me slowly, threw me a life line and saved me–from myself!

Have you ever had this experience? Can you relate to this story? Share your thoughts!

Visit my web site: https://www.laradasbooks.com

Discounts galore for Black Friday at my Etsy Shop: Larada’s Reading Loft