OT - The Amazing Baby Bird Rescue

On Saturday, Spike came and said "there's a bird in the kitchen." Now, she's
only 3 years old, so this could have meant any number of things. This time,
it did actually mean that there was a bird in the kitchen! After much
chasing by children and dog and adults, the poor terrified bird found it's
way out an open door. Later, it was discovered the attic access door was
open. We have birds that nest behind an attic vent. Every year, we say we'll
clean it out and fix the vent just as soon as the babies leave the nest.
Then they leave, the chirping stops and we forget all about them... until
the next clutch is hatched! This bird must have wandered around the attic,
then flew downstairs. I bet it never does that again!

What? That doesn't sound amazing? And what about the baby bird?? Well,
yesterday, there was much cheeping and weird noises. After searching and
searching, we discovered a fledgling had fallen out of the nest, and landed
in a wall cavity between a closet and the parlor - the only cavity not
filled in with insulation! So, there it was, at the bottom of the wall, the
only opening 10 feet up, and the space was about 3" X 8".

We own a butterfly net (who doesn't?), but that wasn't long enough. I
duct-taped it to a mop handle, only to discover that a 10' pole can't be
maneuvered inside the closet or attic. Next attempt, the swiffer handle -
which screws apart into sections. The net was too floppy to capture the
bird, so that didn't work. When DH came home from the swim meet with the
kids (so, BTW, this means that my "helpers" during this adventure were Spike
and Giles), he was able to fashion a scoop from a plastic milk jug (an
abundant resource in our house) and scooped it out of the cavity. None the
worse for wear, we put him in a bucket (Giles' bucket minus the fabric
"scraps") and fed it some canned dog food, following some advise we found on
a web site for bird rescue. Boy, was it hungry! Poor thing had spent hours
stuck in the wall, and was starving.

DH then took the bird, still in bucket, to the area of the attic where the
nest is. He put the baby back in the nest, and there it stayed. Today, there
were normal bird noises, and I think everybody is happy to be where they
belong.

This year, for sure, we clean out the nest and fix the vent. Just as soon as
those babies leave the nest....

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
De-Fang email address to reply

Awwww. What a happy ending to the baby bird rescue. smileYour family did a
very good deed. What kind of bird was it?

When my DS was 1 1/2 y.o., he came running to me yelling, "Mommy, bug! *Big*
bug!" It was a little green lizard. G
--
Ginger (in Texas)
http://photos.yahoo.com/gingerbread1958


"frood" wrote in message
. com...
On Saturday, Spike came and said "there's a bird in the kitchen." Now,
she's
only 3 years old, so this could have meant any number of things. This
time,
it did actually mean that there was a bird in the kitchen! After much
chasing by children and dog and adults, the poor terrified bird found it's
way out an open door. Later, it was discovered the attic access door was
open. We have birds that nest behind an attic vent. Every year, we say
we'll
clean it out and fix the vent just as soon as the babies leave the nest.
Then they leave, the chirping stops and we forget all about them... until
the next clutch is hatched! This bird must have wandered around the attic,
then flew downstairs. I bet it never does that again!

What? That doesn't sound amazing? And what about the baby bird?? Well,
yesterday, there was much cheeping and weird noises. After searching and
searching, we discovered a fledgling had fallen out of the nest, and
landed
in a wall cavity between a closet and the parlor - the only cavity not
filled in with insulation! So, there it was, at the bottom of the wall,
the
only opening 10 feet up, and the space was about 3" X 8".

We own a butterfly net (who doesn't?), but that wasn't long enough. I
duct-taped it to a mop handle, only to discover that a 10' pole can't be
maneuvered inside the closet or attic. Next attempt, the swiffer handle -
which screws apart into sections. The net was too floppy to capture the
bird, so that didn't work. When DH came home from the swim meet with the
kids (so, BTW, this means that my "helpers" during this adventure were
Spike
and Giles), he was able to fashion a scoop from a plastic milk jug (an
abundant resource in our house) and scooped it out of the cavity. None the
worse for wear, we put him in a bucket (Giles' bucket minus the fabric
"scraps") and fed it some canned dog food, following some advise we found
on
a web site for bird rescue. Boy, was it hungry! Poor thing had spent hours
stuck in the wall, and was starving.

DH then took the bird, still in bucket, to the area of the attic where the
nest is. He put the baby back in the nest, and there it stayed. Today,
there
were normal bird noises, and I think everybody is happy to be where they
belong.

This year, for sure, we clean out the nest and fix the vent. Just as soon
as
those babies leave the nest....

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
De-Fang email address to reply

Wendy, you just must close off that opening. Wild birds in the attic, walls,
chimney and such carry terrible diseases such as hydrophobia, assorted
killer viruses, loss of memory and I forget the others. Polly

Should we send you a reminder at the end of the summer telling you to fix
that vent? No matter, it was a good deed performed by your family and that
always brings a reward.

Dee in LeRoy, NY

"frood" wrote in message
. com...
On Saturday, Spike came and said "there's a bird in the kitchen." Now,
she's
only 3 years old, so this could have meant any number of things. This
time,
it did actually mean that there was a bird in the kitchen! After much
chasing by children and dog and adults, the poor terrified bird found it's
way out an open door. Later, it was discovered the attic access door was
open. We have birds that nest behind an attic vent. Every year, we say
we'll
clean it out and fix the vent just as soon as the babies leave the nest.
Then they leave, the chirping stops and we forget all about them... until
the next clutch is hatched! This bird must have wandered around the attic,
then flew downstairs. I bet it never does that again!

What? That doesn't sound amazing? And what about the baby bird?? Well,
yesterday, there was much cheeping and weird noises. After searching and
searching, we discovered a fledgling had fallen out of the nest, and
landed
in a wall cavity between a closet and the parlor - the only cavity not
filled in with insulation! So, there it was, at the bottom of the wall,
the
only opening 10 feet up, and the space was about 3" X 8".

We own a butterfly net (who doesn't?), but that wasn't long enough. I
duct-taped it to a mop handle, only to discover that a 10' pole can't be
maneuvered inside the closet or attic. Next attempt, the swiffer handle -
which screws apart into sections. The net was too floppy to capture the
bird, so that didn't work. When DH came home from the swim meet with the
kids (so, BTW, this means that my "helpers" during this adventure were
Spike
and Giles), he was able to fashion a scoop from a plastic milk jug (an
abundant resource in our house) and scooped it out of the cavity. None the
worse for wear, we put him in a bucket (Giles' bucket minus the fabric
"scraps") and fed it some canned dog food, following some advise we found
on
a web site for bird rescue. Boy, was it hungry! Poor thing had spent hours
stuck in the wall, and was starving.

DH then took the bird, still in bucket, to the area of the attic where the
nest is. He put the baby back in the nest, and there it stayed. Today,
there
were normal bird noises, and I think everybody is happy to be where they
belong.

This year, for sure, we clean out the nest and fix the vent. Just as soon
as
those babies leave the nest....

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
De-Fang email address to reply

That is a pretty cool story Wendy. How exciting for you and
your two assistants! Didn't know about the dog food. Last
time we did a birdie rescue was long ago before the internet.
I need to add butterfly net to my shopping list for tomorrow.
Jeez, if everyone else has one I want one too
Taria


frood wrote:

On Saturday, Spike came and said "there's a bird in the kitchen." Now, she's
only 3 years old, so this could have meant any number of things. This time,
it did actually mean that there was a bird in the kitchen! After much
chasing by children and dog and adults, the poor terrified bird found it's
way out an open door. Later, it was discovered the attic access door was
open. We have birds that nest behind an attic vent. Every year, we say we'll
clean it out and fix the vent just as soon as the babies leave the nest.
Then they leave, the chirping stops and we forget all about them... until
the next clutch is hatched! This bird must have wandered around the attic,
then flew downstairs. I bet it never does that again!

What? That doesn't sound amazing? And what about the baby bird?? Well,
yesterday, there was much cheeping and weird noises. After searching and
searching, we discovered a fledgling had fallen out of the nest, and landed
in a wall cavity between a closet and the parlor - the only cavity not
filled in with insulation! So, there it was, at the bottom of the wall, the
only opening 10 feet up, and the space was about 3" X 8".

We own a butterfly net (who doesn't?), but that wasn't long enough. I
duct-taped it to a mop handle, only to discover that a 10' pole can't be
maneuvered inside the closet or attic. Next attempt, the swiffer handle -
which screws apart into sections. The net was too floppy to capture the
bird, so that didn't work. When DH came home from the swim meet with the
kids (so, BTW, this means that my "helpers" during this adventure were Spike
and Giles), he was able to fashion a scoop from a plastic milk jug (an
abundant resource in our house) and scooped it out of the cavity. None the
worse for wear, we put him in a bucket (Giles' bucket minus the fabric
"scraps") and fed it some canned dog food, following some advise we found on
a web site for bird rescue. Boy, was it hungry! Poor thing had spent hours
stuck in the wall, and was starving.

DH then took the bird, still in bucket, to the area of the attic where the
nest is. He put the baby back in the nest, and there it stayed. Today, there
were normal bird noises, and I think everybody is happy to be where they
belong.

This year, for sure, we clean out the nest and fix the vent. Just as soon as
those babies leave the nest....

Perhaps you could send me a gator or 2 to help me get rid of the problem.
I'm sure gators in the attic are less noise than birds.

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
de-fang email address to reply


"Polly Esther" wrote in message
ink.net...
Wendy, you just must close off that opening. Wild birds in the attic,
walls,
chimney and such carry terrible diseases such as hydrophobia, assorted
killer viruses, loss of memory and I forget the others. Polly

The gators wouldn't bother the birds. I see birds using the gators for a
comfy landing spot all the time. I don't know if the gators don't care for
the taste or don't like getting feathers in their pearly white teeth.
When we first moved here, the chimney had several generations of birds
in it. Just imagine how delighted our big old Tommy kitty was. Polly

"frood" wrote Perhaps you could send me a gator or 2 to help me get rid
of the problem.
I'm sure gators in the attic are less noise than birds.

--
Wendy

In article ,
"frood" wrote:

On Saturday, Spike came and said "there's a bird in the kitchen."

snip

Wow! Wendy, I'm so glad you were able to get that bird out of the wall
cavity!
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

Could you send the cat, then?

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
de-fang email address to reply


"Polly Esther" wrote in message
nk.net...
The gators wouldn't bother the birds. I see birds using the gators for a
comfy landing spot all the time. I don't know if the gators don't care for
the taste or don't like getting feathers in their pearly white teeth.
When we first moved here, the chimney had several generations of birds
in it. Just imagine how delighted our big old Tommy kitty was. Polly

"frood" wrote Perhaps you could send me a gator or 2 to help me get
rid
of the problem.
I'm sure gators in the attic are less noise than birds.

--
Wendy

I was just to the dog zoo (pound/shelter) They have lots of
kitties that need homes. You need a cat to get the birds and
give Mungo something to chase.
Taria

frood wrote:

Could you send the cat, then?