Bluebird in My Chimney

So, Saturday morning had a somewhat 'different' kind of beginning than most days. . . . After the Munchkin woke up and I'd brought him out of his room, I walked back into the living room and heard a strange scratching/scuttling sound in the corner near the woodstove. At first I thought maybe it was something outside because it had stopped by the time I really started to hone in on it.

When it started up again I realized it was actually coming from the stove pipe between the woodstove and the ceiling. My first thought was that it was either a bird or a squirrel or something, then I started wondering how I was going to get it out before it died from ash/soot inhalation or exhaustion (I have NO idea how long it had been in there by that point, though I'm assuming not for long).

I called my mom and asked if she could drive the 22 minutes to my house and help me dissect the stove pipe and rescue whatever poor creature was trapped in there, she said she would head out as soon as she could get ready.

Since I couldn't do anything else at that point I went about the normal morning routine: take Sasha out and feed him (the cats had already been fed), fix the Munchkin some breakfast, wash my face, etc. About 15-20 minutes after I'd called my mom she called me back to ask me what kind of screws were on the stove pipe to make sure we'd have the right tools for the job. =p By that time I hadn't heard the 'whatever-it-is' in about 5 minutes or so. I started wondering if it had made it up and out of the chimney--or down into the actual woodstove area. So, very slowly I started opening the door of the stove and much to my surprise--there perched on one of the bricks against the side wall of the stove close to the front was a female Bluebird!

I closed the door quickly as I was afraid she would escape and then be stuck flying around the house until I could manage to catch her somehow--if the cats didn't get to her first. I tried to think of what I could use to catch her with and the only thing I could come up with that was anything like a net was my lingerie wash bag thingy (ha ha!). I put Penny in the bathroom so she couldn't 'assist' me in catching the poor bird. Boomer was behind the couch, so he wasn't much of a threat (oh wait, I haven't introduced you guys to Boomer yet, have I? I'll try to do that soon. . . .). Then I went to the laundry room and got the make-shift 'net' and after distracting Munchkin with his breakfast and an episode of the Backyardigans, I went back to the woodstove.

At first I just held the net in front of the woodstove (like that was going to work!! Ha ha), then I realized that method wasn't likely to work, and by that time the bird had hopped to the back and was trying to find a way back into the chimney--which I wasn't about to let happen!! I lightly tossed the net over her and was actually surprised when it did indeed land on her. . .though when I went to pick her up she scooted out from under the side. I don't really know what happened next, all I know is that one second I thought she was going to escape for sure and the next second she was in my hand--perfectly cradled so that she couldn't struggle and injure herself, and I didn't have to hold her very tightly to restrain her. Praise God!!

She actually didn't put up much of a fight--which surprised me. Maybe she thought I was a predator that was going to eat her and she was waiting for me to loosen my grip on her so she could make her escape (kind of like 'playing possum', you know?).

Anyhow, I took her outside and gently let her go after taking a couple of quick pictures with my cell phone. She immediately flew away and seemed to be okay. Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't think of checking out chimney pipes as potential nesting sites anymore!!!

 

 *Edited to Add: I just realized this is a male bluebird. . .I think I've been away from the Mainland too long--I never would have made such an obvious mistake identifying the gender of a bluebird back a few years ago. What was I thinking? I guess the layer of soot over his blue feathers that made him look more gray may have been part of it, but STILL!*