Firebird

[Flatbedford]

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?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think the chimney looks too much like a birdfeeder.

Matt

 

[Flatbedford]

There's one in every crowd!

 

[begreen]

He's not too swift. lol. Do you have a coarse screen on the cap? We have multiple feeders but have never had a bird in the flue.

 

[Beer Belly]

 

[Swedishchef]

I can just picture the first time the bird was in your stove and flying around: dog going nuts, wife with the bird seed, etc. LOL. Are you certain there's no nest in the chimney?

Nice story.

ANdrew

 

[BobUrban]

24/7 burning for a few days ought to be a useful deterant. Chimney cap?

 

[stanleyjohn]

Great story!Hope that bird has now learned its lesson.This fall one of my cats was in the basement staring at the flue cleaning box for the basement chimney (not in use).When i went to check it out i heard taping noises behind it.It ended up being a little sparrow!I put one of the cats carriers in front of door and that little bird flew into it.The sparrow lived to see another day but my cat missed out in a special dinner.

 

[wkpoor]

Every year I have to tell my bird story mainly because it is an ongoing event. Every spring when the heating season is over I remove and bag my chimney pipe. Couple times a week for several weeks I catch birds in the bag and release them. So the question is why not screen the cap. Answer is no one can possibly clean my chimney as good as those birds. By fall the flue is literally polished. This has been going on for yrs now. My chimney is 35' (41' to the stove top) and those suckers will polish it right to the bag. Only time a bird was harmed is if we are gone a few days and can't let them out.

 

[jjs777_fzr]

yeah - as the bird is thinking it is near death with people chasing it with bags - the bird seed sounded like a great idea - anytime I'm near death I always stop and think how nice some sun flower seeds would be right about now.

classic - lol - too funny - good pics but remember a video tells the story best

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Steve, this is definitely one of those times a video would have been great. Somehow I can just picture you and your wife chasing the bird.

 

[Slow1]

Ok - nobody has said it yet so I suppose I'll have to

Clearly your cat must be defective - perhaps you need a new one?

What a riot - and to have the sequel the next day is great... Hmm... waiting for part 3 here. But I too wonder if you have a nest in your chimney or cap, how did the stove draft?

 

[Flatbedford]

Since we started burning pretty much 24/7 we haven't had another visit. .

 

[stanleyjohn]

Ok - nobody has said it yet so I suppose I'll have to

Clearly your cat must be defective - perhaps you need a new one?

What a riot - and to have the sequel the next day is great... Hmm... waiting for part 3 here. But I too wonder if you have a nest in your chimney or cap, how did the stove draft?

Flatbed has the dog i have the cats!Both cats are indoor only cats and the biggest kills they have are what ever insects get into the house.In the 11 years i have been here this is only the 2nd time a bird got into a flue and trapped so havent seen much desire to get a chimney cap for that flue.

 

[PapaDave]

I laughed so hard I started a coughing fit.
Now my throat hurts. Thanks a lot FBF.