Urgent to birders

[wrenb]

I hope that springbok1 and other wildlife-savvy friends can help. We've got a finch or chickadee (some very small bird) in the basement. It's driving one of the cat's crazy. Smart bird is in the rafters, which is 6" too high for DH or I to reach. We thought we'd pop a tea towel over the bird and take it outside, but we can't reach. And the bird (smart little bugger) keeps flying away. There are no windows that open in the basement. So I can't just open a window.

I give it until 6pm and then I'm calling animal control.

Ideas?

Comments

[springbok1.livejournal.com]

A couple of ideas..

You could try using larger towels to kind of tent it in. Thwap the rafters near it to try to flush it out, and then hold out the towels to try to block it off. You can also try throwing a large towel over the bird if it's swooping down at all. If you manage to get it under the large towel that way, just wrap it up and take it outside.

If you have any nets (butterfly nets, but even a largish net for an aquarium might work) you can try to net it. This works best by having one person use large towels to try to block it into a smaller space while the other person attempts to net it.

Good luck!

[wrenb.livejournal.com]

Good idea on limiting the bird's range! We'll try that once everyone's home (a little later this evening). Since all the advice on the internet says to go with the tea towel, it seems silly to call animal control. If it was a bat, I'd call them. But this is a little songbird.

I'll let you know how it turns out!