A Bird In Hand

We have had very warm temperatures for the last couple of days and have not needed a fire in the wood stove.  Monday afternoon Connie told me that she and Malchiah had heard noises within the stovepipe and suspected that a bird might have gotten into it.  I listened but heard nothing.  Yesterday I opened the stove up and raked some ashes off of the top of the oven but saw nothing out of the way.

It cooled off over night and I decided that we needed some heat this morning.  When I opened the door to the firebox a puff of ash dust blew out at me.  That was most unusual and made me wonder what was happening.  I got a flashlight and looked into the firebox and discovered a bird.  I wasn’t sure just how to catch him.  I tired putting something over him to no avail.  Then he flew right out of the door almost into my face and began flying around the room.  All of this activity got both Snickers and Precious, our cats, quite excited.

I opened the front door and propped it open, thinking maybe the little bird would fly out.  But, it couldn’t seem to see the opening.  After a bit it landed on top of the kitchen cabinets.  I pulled a chair over in front of the cabinets and stepped up onto it.  The little bird was just sitting there, perhaps quite worn out by the ordeal of being in the stovepipe and stove for 36 or more hours.  I reached my hand over it and was able to capture it.  I quickly took it outside and released it.  The “bird in hand” quickly took flight and was soon gone from sight, hopefully wiser about getting into chimneys and stovepipes.