A bird in the...fireplace?

November 15, 2015 5:18 AM

How do w help reunite a stuck bird with the out of doors?

Last night, after hearing noises in our chimney, we assumed that there was a critter stuck in there. We left the damper open and the stove door closed overnight, and this morning, there's a little speckled bird hopping around in there. A professional will charge us nearly four hundred dollars to come out on a Sunday. Does anyone have experience with escorting birds out of the house?

posted by SobaFett to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Best answer: He's in your woodstove?

If I had an insect net, or a fishing net, I would put that over the door and use a stick to guide him into it..but, with out one of those, I would grab a piece of cloth (maybe 2'x2', or an old handtowel or pillow case) hold it on two sides to form a sort of wall, slowly reach in through the door and gently enclose him in the cloth and take him out.

Another option is to just let him fly out, open doors and windows and herd him in that direction, but, of course, you've got a soot covered bird there, might get a bit dirty.
posted by HuronBob at 5:29 AM on November 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I've had good luck getting birds out of rooms by making it so that all things that aren't open windows are also not visible. In other words, open as many windows as you can, cover all the others, switch off all lamps, then leave the room and allow the bird to find its way outside by following the light.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:36 AM on November 15, 2015 [9 favorites]

I've had success using Too-Ticky's method. Make the open doors big and the only source of light.
posted by pearlybob at 6:18 AM on November 15, 2015

Please report back the method used and the results.
posted by AugustWest at 6:33 AM on November 15, 2015

Response by poster: We attempted to catch it with a pillowcase, but it flew out and perched first on the bookcase and then on our ceiling lamp. After we blocked off all the doorways to the room, I opened a window from the top. I think it felt the breeze and flew right out, pooping on our curtains as it went. Thanks, HuronBob and Too-Ticky. I hope we won't need to do this again, but I feel confident if we ever get another avian visitor.
posted by SobaFett at 6:49 AM on November 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

Glad you are bird free! To stay that way, you might see about putting some wire mesh over your chimney to help you from having to deal with this in the future. A search for chimney bird mesh, chimney mesh, or chimney cap leads to many options.
posted by cecic at 7:52 AM on November 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'll second cecic's advice to get a chimney cap.
posted by brianogilvie at 8:28 AM on November 15, 2015