Back in mid October my wife called me at work to tell me she and my son were hearing what sounded like an animal scratching in the walls of the house. My house is older and we have had visitors before so I told her that I would set some traps when I got home from work. By the time I get home, the noise has stopped and it has gotten a little cool outside so we decide to start a small fire to take the chill out of the house. I put my usual two splits with some paper in between and a bunch of kidling on top in the stove and light the paper. Within seconds the noise starts again! It is in the chimney! I open the door to look in the stove and I see this guy trying to keep away from the flames!
Holy crap! There's a bird in the stove and I just lit a fire! My wife tossed a glass of water on the still small paper fire and I pulled out all the wood. OK, we're not gonna cook him now, but how do we get him out? I put my fireplace gloves on and went to carefully grab the bird figuring I could just carry him to the door and let him go. Not so easy. He or she slips past my hands and heads through the living room and kitchen to the dining room. Now I'm running all over the house, the dog is out of his mind, my wife is carrying around a bag of bird seed, and my son and his girlfriend even come downstairs to see the excitement. By luck the girlfriend just happens to open the front door while the bird is flying by and it goes out the door.
That was pretty exciting.
Two days later, a Sunday, I wake up early before the rest of the family and decide to start a fire. I hear the same scratching noise in the stove pipe. I open the cat bypass and in a minute look who's in the stove again!
This time there is no fire so it is not quite as serious a situation as the last time. I closed the stove door and took some time to take more pictures of the bird and wake up my wife to formulate a better rescue plan. We decide to put a large bag over the stove door so I can open the top of the stove and drive him into it. Great plan, but in no time the bird is back in the dining room this time hiding under furniture. Next it flies to the upstairs hallway. We close all the bedroom doors and the bathroom and open the window in the hall. Now terrified the little bird lands on the floor right by my bedroom door. I tried to grab it by the tail feathers and the little bastard slips through the space under my bedroom door and into the room. After moving furniture around and some chasing he flew out an open window. This is crazy twice in only a couple days and we've never had this happen in the nine years we've lived here.
Here's my theory. Take a look at the bird feeder we have.
Maybe it looks too much like the chimney?
Holy crap! There's a bird in the stove and I just lit a fire! My wife tossed a glass of water on the still small paper fire and I pulled out all the wood. OK, we're not gonna cook him now, but how do we get him out? I put my fireplace gloves on and went to carefully grab the bird figuring I could just carry him to the door and let him go. Not so easy. He or she slips past my hands and heads through the living room and kitchen to the dining room. Now I'm running all over the house, the dog is out of his mind, my wife is carrying around a bag of bird seed, and my son and his girlfriend even come downstairs to see the excitement. By luck the girlfriend just happens to open the front door while the bird is flying by and it goes out the door.
That was pretty exciting.
Two days later, a Sunday, I wake up early before the rest of the family and decide to start a fire. I hear the same scratching noise in the stove pipe. I open the cat bypass and in a minute look who's in the stove again!
This time there is no fire so it is not quite as serious a situation as the last time. I closed the stove door and took some time to take more pictures of the bird and wake up my wife to formulate a better rescue plan. We decide to put a large bag over the stove door so I can open the top of the stove and drive him into it. Great plan, but in no time the bird is back in the dining room this time hiding under furniture. Next it flies to the upstairs hallway. We close all the bedroom doors and the bathroom and open the window in the hall. Now terrified the little bird lands on the floor right by my bedroom door. I tried to grab it by the tail feathers and the little bastard slips through the space under my bedroom door and into the room. After moving furniture around and some chasing he flew out an open window. This is crazy twice in only a couple days and we've never had this happen in the nine years we've lived here.
Here's my theory. Take a look at the bird feeder we have.
Maybe it looks too much like the chimney?
