Bird Trapped in Furnace

Last night I went down to the basement to put the sofa cover in the washing machine. Pickles had been standing on the back of the couch when she decided to vomit her entire dinner all the way down the front of the couch. Yechhht. So anyway, I flipped on the light and was messing around with the detergent when I heard a scratching noise coming from somewhere in the room. I got very quiet and still and heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the duct work along the ceiling. I went upstairs and got Timmy to come listen to it.

Timmy took one listen and immediately announced "There's a bird in the flue." About two months ago there was a big wind storm that blew one of the chimney caps off the top of the house and Timmy hasn't gotten around to putting it back on yet. And now a bird has managed to fly down into our furnace. I said, "What do we do?" Timmy "Turn on the furnace!" I said "Ewwww, no." Can you imagine the smell? Not to mention that it's just WRONG.

Luckily the bird was stuck right at the place in the duct where there is kind of an access hole. We could see it in there just flapping and flapping. We gathered our bird rescue gear together: a flashlight, a heavy glove for Timmy, a large trash bag to hopefully entice the bird into, and the digital camera. I had to record this event for posterity, right?

The next several minutes were just like an episode of Animal Cops Houston. Perhaps I should call Chief Investigator Jim Boller and ask him for a job? First we put the trash bag over the hole and banged on the side of the duct, hoping the bird would fly out and into the bag. This didn't work. Timmy bravely put his gloved hand into the hole and tried to pull the bird out. That's when we discovered the bird had one of his little birdie feet caught in a groove in the duct. He went to get a pair of pliers. Using the pliers he very carefully bent the duct and freed the bird's leg. The bird, surprised at being suddenly free, fell to the bottom of the duct. Timmy left again to get a screwdriver. He came back and proceeded to undo the screws that held the duct to the furnace. The bird finally came out after we had banged on the top of the duct a few times. It just fell right out onto the floor. (During this entire chain of events I, of course, was standing several feet away holding the flashlight helpfully and covering my head and face with a heavy blanket...I don't want to get pecked in the head by a psycho bird!)

Timmy picked the bird up (in his gloved hand!) and we took it outside. At first, I think it was still in a bit of shock because it just sat there on the ground. But then it took off and flew away. Hooray!