Bird in my kitchen

[Ivy]

Well, not actually IN my kitchen, but perched on the window screen. It's just sort of hanging there, looking in. It has been there for at least 15 minutes, just blinking at me when I walk past. My son sat 18 inches from it and ate a snack just now, and it didn't budge. I'm thinking it's stuck somehow, but it doesn't look injured and its beak isn't stuck in the wire. What would you do?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/englshivy/051407_10231.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/englshivy/051407_10232.jpg

[Lookin4theBestNU]

My answer for everything of this nature...get a stick, poke it & see what happens.

[Geoff]

Kind of looks like a woodpecker... by the shape of a beak, and they often hang at this angle. Just give it time to rest up and fly off?

On a related note, I was leaving the house one morning, and did that "sense check" one tends to do when departing. Cat in one basket, check. Other cat on sofa, check. Blackbird sitting in other basket.. check... What?? Yep, there was a bird in the house in a cat basket. Not the best Darwinian evolutionary strategy, one would say. It then panicked and flew around the house. The cats gave me that "do you mind, we are trying to sleep" look, despite the fact that one of them was clearly the perpetrator. The bird then flew and hid in the bread bin in the kitchen, which i was able to close, and release it to the wilds. It was the best excuse for being late at work I've ever had :)

-Geoff

[Metamorphosis]

I recommend freeing it from its trapped misery (by way of 12ga.).

[Ivy]

My answer for everything of this nature...get a stick, poke it & see what happens.

I didn't do this, but I did open the window to see if its toes were stuck. It didn't seem alarmed or anything and just sort of shifted around. I don't think it's stuck, but I can't figure out why it's not scared of us at all.

Kind of looks like a woodpecker... by the shape of a beak, and they often hang at this angle. Just give it time to rest up and fly off?

I think that's what I'm going to do, for now.

On a related note, I was leaving the house one morning, and did that "sense check" one tends to do when departing. Cat in one basket, check. Other cat on sofa, check. Blackbird sitting in other basket.. check... What?? Yep, there was a bird in the house in a cat basket. Not the best Darwinian evolutionary strategy, one would say. It then panicked and flew around the house. The cats gave me that "do you mind, we are trying to sleep" look, despite the fact that one of them was clearly the perpetrator. The bird then flew and hid in the bread bin in the kitchen, which i was able to close, and release it to the wilds. It was the best excuse for being late at work I've ever had :)

-Geoff

Weird! How did you miss its singing in the dead of night, before that morning?

I was once housesitting and a bright red cardinal flew into the house through the chimney and started flapping about. The whole thing's a blur but I think it ended up going back through the chimney.

And then, when I was in college, when I had super-long hair, a blue jay swooped down and started pecking at my head when I was walking across campus. I seem to attract weird bird stories.

[kuranes]

I wonder if its a Flicker ?

*tries to think of the name of the bird he remembers from childhood*

[raincrow007]

I'd say it's a woodpecker of some sort too -- dig the zygodactyl toes! Prolly a juvenile -- worn out and taking a break. *shrugs*

S'cool though. Any updates?

[raincrow007]

I wonder if its a Flicker ?

*tries to think of the name of the bird he remembers from childhood*

Can't really beat yellow-bellied sapsucker (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/resizedImages/yellow-bellied-sapsucker-82.jpg) for a name... ;)

[Ivy]

It's still there. I opened the window and tried to poke its talons out so it could fly away, but it keeps shoving them back in. I think it must just be a young'n who is afraid to let go.

I called Animal Control but nobody is available to come out right now. I can't reach the window from the outside so there's nothing I can do for it right now.

[rivercrow]

Try a baby Northern flicker (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Flicker.html).

[Ivy]

YES! That's it!

I'm calling animal control again. I can at least get in line. My tax dollars, right?

[Ivy]

Animal Control just hung up on me.

[kuranes]

Can't really beat yellow-bellied sapsucker (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/resizedImages/yellow-bellied-sapsucker-82.jpg) for a name... ;)

Tufted Titmouse gives a good effort though....

[raincrow007]

Try a baby Northern flicker (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Flicker.html).

*grumbles something about finding a cool woodpecker name...*

I wasn't trying to identify it.

Not really.
:ninja:


Oh K -- how about blue-footed boobies (http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~km/pics/kirk/boobies.jpg)? :D

[kuranes]

Crested Nipple Nipper

[raincrow007]

Crested Nipple Nipper

From Nippon? ;)

[C.J.Woolf]

I learned from bird-feeder observation that the woodpecker is a badass. The sparrows and other small songbirds would flee when the bluejays came. The bluejays fled when the woodpeckers came. The woodpeckers fled from nothing.

Can't really beat yellow-bellied sapsucker (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/resizedImages/yellow-bellied-sapsucker-82.jpg) for a name... ;)
The species name of the North American robin is Turdus Migratorius. You're welcome.

[kuranes]

Turdus Migratorius. You're welcome.

Shits getting realer.

From Nippon? ;)

Yes. Like those cats from Persia.

[Rajah]

There's a bird's nest in my dryer hose. Again.

WTF do I do about it?

[kuranes]

There's a bird's nest in my dryer hose. Again.

WTF do I do about it?

Use your moist hose in the meantime.

[Ivy]

Well, I went out and tried to gently pry it away with a long stick. It just kept shoving its little talons back in the screen. I didn't really want to touch it but after Animal Control pretty much said "deal with it yourself" I kind of thought I didn't have a choice. I got the ladder out and set it up by the window, and went inside for a towel.

But wait! NF friend to the rescue. :) At that moment, she called, and I happened to mention to her that I was screwing up the nerve to go grab a live bird off my kitchen window screen. She said "Wait, I'll be there in five minutes." So she came and went up to help the bird, but it flew away before she could touch it. Weird.

It flew to the bottom of a nearby tree and it was just sitting there, not flying away when we went to investigate it. It didn't look injured-- just a little dumb or dazed or something. We were contemplating taking it to the wildlife refuge when it took off into the woods.

[rivercrow]

It's probably just a fledgling and not too good at flying. From my experience with chimney swifts, some of these "vertical object clinging" birds seem to have problems with not being stuck to the side of something (tree, house, etc).

Its parents are probably around somewhere.

[kuranes]

It's probably just a fledgling and not too good at flying. From my experience with chimney swifts, some of these "vertical object clinging" birds seem to have problems with not being stuck to the side of something (tree, house, etc).


If it was a "horizontal object clinger" then maybe it would be a ledgeling.

[rivercrow]

There's a bird's nest in my dryer hose. Again.

WTF do I do about it?

Wrens (http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/arrival-Wren-House.jpg), starlings (http://www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/gs2003/assets/images/starling.jpg), or English sparrows (http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/Home/birds-Sparrow-House.jpg)?

if it's wrens, then that might be one of the many nests the male wren built to interest the female wren. She will pick the one she likes and completely dismantle the nest and rebuild it. (Which means the rejected nests will be abandoned.)

If it's starlings or house sparrows AND you're in the US, you have my sympathy, but the birds don't. Those are invasive species from Europe and are some of the few songbirds that are not protected from being hunted. (IIRC--check your local laws.) Starlings and house sparrows deprive native cavity nesters of nesting space.

[rivercrow]

If it was a "horizontal object clinger" then maybe it would be a ledgeling.

Whereas ground clingers are groundlings....

[raincrow007]

Whereas ground clingers are groundlings....

So they like Shakespeare? ;)

The Globe's shape and size have been pieced together by scholarly inquiry over the last two centuries. The evidence suggests that it was a three-story, 100-foot (30.5m) wide, open-air amphitheatre that could house around 3,000 spectators. The Globe is shown as a round building on a contemporary engraving of London. On this basis, some assume the building was circular, while others favour a polygonal shape. Archaeological evidence suggests the playhouse had twenty sides.[7]

[B]At the base of the stage, there was an area called the pit,[8] (or, harking back to the old inn-yards, yard) where, for a penny, people (the "groundlings") would stand to watch the performance. Groundlings would stand and eat hazelnuts during performances.

Globe Theatre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theater)

[Martoon]

So she came and went up to help the bird, but it flew away before she could touch it. Weird.
I have that reaction to NFs, too.




:ohmy: Uh-oh. Here comes one now...

[kuranes]

Whereas ground clingers are groundlings....

Or wearing drag in the hopes of getting sent back to the USA *grumblings*

[C.J.Woolf]

But the bird was a screenling. Like all of us on this board.

[Ivy]

I have that reaction to NFs, too.




:ohmy: Uh-oh. Here comes one now...

They are scary, with all the hugging and talking. Runaway! Runawayfast!

[niffer]

that bird...was so cute. you should've taken advantage of the time it was on there to take more pictures of it. and send them to me.

[Geoff]

Wrens (http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/arrival-Wren-House.jpg), starlings (http://www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/gs2003/assets/images/starling.jpg), or English sparrows (http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/Home/birds-Sparrow-House.jpg)?

if it's wrens, then that might be one of the many nests the male wren built to interest the female wren. She will pick the one she likes and completely dismantle the nest and rebuild it. (Which means the rejected nests will be abandoned.)

If it's starlings or house sparrows AND you're in the US, you have my sympathy, but the birds don't. Those are invasive species from Europe and are some of the few songbirds that are not protected from being hunted. (IIRC--check your local laws.) Starlings and house sparrows deprive native cavity nesters of nesting space.

Does a starling or house sparrow count as a songbird? I dont think starlings make an attractive noise, and sparrows just repeat "cheep cheep!" indefinitely.

-Geoff

[rivercrow]

Does a starling or house sparrow count as a songbird? I dont think starlings make an attractive noise, and sparrows just repeat "cheep cheep!" indefinitely.

-Geoff

Yeah, they do count as songbirds. So do shrikes (http://www.birdsasart.com/loggerhead%20shrike.jpg) and, IIRC, blue jays and crows. (I miss shrikes--meadow birds.)

Songbirds are pretty much any passerine--generally, any perching bird.

Actually, all the discussion about Shakespeare is appropriate. If it weren't for some lunatic thinking that all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare should be imported into the US, we wouldn't have the great plague of Starlings that we do.

House sparrows probably came here with boats, though, accidentally.

[Geoff]

Yeah, they do count as songbirds. So do shrikes (http://www.birdsasart.com/loggerhead%20shrike.jpg) and, IIRC, blue jays and crows. (I miss shrikes--meadow birds.)

Songbirds are pretty much any passerine--generally, any perching bird.

Actually, all the discussion about Shakespeare is appropriate. If it weren't for some lunatic thinking that all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare should be imported into the US, we wouldn't have the great plague of Starlings that we do.

House sparrows probably came here with boats, though, accidentally.


Yes, that sucked didn't it. Just one pair of starlings in Central Park or similar, as I remember. Still, it goes hand in hand with the mass extinction of the passenger pigeon, largely for fun(!)

I am impressed with the House sparrows, they do well to manipulate the sails, and all, what with their little wings and beaks :shock:

[Ivy]

What did you end up doing about your dryer hose nest, Rajah? (I'd just get a new dryer hose, I think...)

[Rajah]

What did you end up doing about your dryer hose nest, Rajah? (I'd just get a new dryer hose, I think...)Okay, I'm feeling really terrible about this.

Removed nest and lots of feathers, which were clogging the hose. But found 3 eggs. :(

[Ivy]

Okay, I'm feeling really terrible about this.

Removed nest and lots of feathers, which were clogging the hose. But found 3 eggs. :(

They were probably cooked by the dryer steam anyway...

[Rajah]

They were probably cooked by the dryer steam anyway...
So... I should have had breakfast.




Great! Now I feel worse! :P

[rivercrow]

At least it wasn't a possum in the dryer....that happened to an art prof of mine. What a mess to clean up.

[Ivy]

Oh, that's nasty.

[rivercrow]

Yeah--that's why I opted for brevity.

[Ivy]

Moved from the Bonfire.