Bird in my kitchen

[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, starlings, or English sparrows?

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]

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

 

[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.




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.




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, starlings, or English sparrows?

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 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 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

 

[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!

 

[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.