Waiting For The Bird

It must be spring, because our first bird of the season has arrived in the stove pipe.  We can hear him fluttering in there from time to time.  But so far, he’s a no show.

We’re waiting for him to drop into the firebox. 

I wish he weren’t so stubborn. 

He arrived this morning at first light, but he simply won’t come down. 

There’s only one way out for birds that do this, and that’s down through the stove.

So, we’ve tried to prepare for the inevitable.

We cleaned out the ash, wiped down the glass, opened the flue, and prepared the house for a loose bird.  When I say prepared the house, I mean, we closed all the bedroom doors, pulled all the curtains, removed breakable decorations in high places, and turned out all the lights. 

Oh, and we fed the cats.  It stinks to go through all this to release a bird only to have a cat take a flying leap and snag it.  It rather goes against what we keep telling the birdie…that we only want to help it.  Lol!

I’m hoping to simply reach in and grab the bird using my fireplace gloves.  But in the event that he sneaks past my hands, my second hope is that he’ll fly straight towards the wide open front door.  It will be the only source of light.

I figure it’s a 50-50 thing.  Some birds cooperate.  And some reek havoc in the house trying to do it their own way.

There’s no way of knowing what this bird will do. 

So we prepare and we wait. 

From the gentle flapping, I’m guessing it’s a bluebird.  I actually prefer bluebirds.  They tend to be more cooperative.  And even if they get into the house, they tend to be more careful about their flight patterns.

But we’ve had starlings in there before, and they tend to have a mind of their own.  Oh the damage they can do!

Stay tuned!  My little guy wants to take pictures of the big event, and I’ll post them for you tomorrow.  Provided we have the wayward nester out by then!  :)