Help!!! There's a bird in my house! Seriously!

[Critters2]

I went to Walgreen's, come home to find a bird flying around my dining room!! I'm completely freaked out...and in my office now. It's a grackle. Flying around my dining room. Did I mention I'm completely freaked out?

Any advice as to how to get a bird out of my house would be greatly appreciated.


Critters
freaking out

[Critters2]

1. Well. I guess I have to go deal with it. Maybe the cats will have gotten to it by now. nt

[haele]

2. Let it fly around until it tires itself out and stays in one spot...

Throw a towel over it. Carefully gather the towel together, hold the bird upside down if you can, and take it outside to fly away.

Good luck

Haele

[Critters2]

3. Good advice. Thanks! nt

[LeftyMom]

8. I would really suggest not doing that.

Bird bones are fragile and there's a good chance that a bird struggling to get away will be injured.

[Critters2]

9. The leaving the door or window idea seems better, providing the bird leaves quickly.

We have a predicted low of -16 tonight. Letting that kind of cold air into the house for very long could burn out a furnace.

[XemaSab]

4. Shut it in one room

Turn out the lights in that room.

Open a window.

If it only has one way to go, it will go that way.

[Demoiselle]

5. Can you open a window in your dining room...

And close the dining room off to the rest of the house?
Good luck.

[Critters2]

7. I'll have to open a door. My dining room doesn't have a window, but

has a door to the outside. It's a real old house, with some design oddities. The trick will be getting the cats out of the room with the bird.

[LeftyMom]

6. Open a door or window and leave it alone until it gets the idea.

We had this happen surprisingly often at one of my previous places of employment. Chasing the bird around does not help.

[Sequoia]

10. According to an old wives tale, that's not a good sign.

But I'm not superstitious either.

[Critters2]

11. It happened once before. I came home from worship to find Shamu playing with a dead bird

in my kitchen. Apart from a much milder freaking out experience than this time, nothing awful happened.

[astral]

36. I think a bird in the house is worth two in the hand

I have heard it all my life. I never knew what it meant but it's worth something.

[Deja Q]

12. Find a kettle, put in some vegetables and spaces, and flash a knife.

Little sparrow Fritters will be more than happy to find the nearest window - even if it is closed, for the bird cannot tell the difference. Hey, if you dig sparrow, just leave the window closed and the blinds open... or making the kettle look like a birdbath will help too. :9

[Critters2]

33. Grackle stew....yeah, no thanks. nt

[LoveMyCali]

13. I would just move

I'm seriously freaked out by birds.

[Critters2]

32. That was my first impulse!

:)

[Suich]

14. Dying for an update here!

Did it fly away?

:shrug:

[Critters2]

29. It was in my house until my lunch hour today!!

I have nothing against them really, but it needs to be said...birds are stupid! I opened an outside door in the dining room, so it could fly out. But for reasons known only to it...it FLEW UPSTAIRS!!! AARRGGHH!!!

It flew into an extra bedroom that I use for storage. It landed on my Christmas tree! By this time, the temperature was -9, and I was not going to open a window and let that air into the house. So, I closed the door to that room, and let it get used to the idea that it was spending the night.

As soon as the sun was at a decent height to create a little (very little) heat, I opened a window in the storage room and closed the door again. I went to work. I went home at noon and checked on it. It was still there!!!! Shamu sneaked into the room with me, and seeing him freaked the bird. First it flew into the upper parts of both windows. I grabbed Shamu and headed for the door. Just as I did, the bird flew out the window!!!

Now I'm just waiting for my house to warm up again.

Stupid bird.

[MrsBrady]

15. i had this happen last year

I got one of the neighbor guys to come help me as my husband wasn't home.

I had been unpacking boxes (from my marriage move)...
so he sort of cornered the bird, took a big empty box, and "scraped" the bird into the box.
I guess you could say he cornered it into the box.

I guess the bird was so freaked out that he was able to just close the box long enough to get it out of the house.

[applegrove]

16. My cat brought one inside one time. It was flying around but seemed to trust me. It

sat on the edge of a doorframe and let me pick it up. I let it go out the window. I've always wondered if the bird instinctively knew I was not going to hunt him like the cat had.

[DarkTirade]

17. Short of opening the door and trying to shoo it that way, I got nothin'.

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. I would have said, "put the beagle in a slingshot and take that bird OUT!"

but it's not my reply, it's yours.

[DarkTirade]

20. ... you'd need some very strong elastic or rubber bands, and a big forked stick.

[Fire Walk With Me]

21. It appears that the two of us, working together like this, will shortly have the required answer!

:thumbsup:

[DarkTirade]

22. Heh. I work at a craft store.

I think of crazy things to do with all the crap we have aaaaall day.

One of my coworkers was having a crappy day and said, "Just shoot me now."

5 minutes later I'd already thought of three ways to do it with just materials there in the store, and I told her.

... she's been kinda afraid of me ever since. But I was just trying to help! She asked! :P

[Jamastiene]

23. I have always wanted to be locked in a craft store alone overnight

with or without weed to tap my imagination. I guarantee I would build the weirdest and coolest thing ever if only someone would pay for my supplies and bail money the next morning. Could you imagine? :evilgrin:

[DarkTirade]

26. Just remember, if you accidentally draw the wrong design and summon Cthulhu...

I ain't bailing you out of THAT mess. :P

[Jamastiene]

19. 1. Quit freaking out.

2. Get it to a room that you can close the door behind it and open a window.
3. Open the window for a little while and let it find its way out the window.
4. Check the room in a couple of hours.
5. If the bird flew away. Good.
6. If not, repeat steps 4-6 as necessary.

[struggle4progress]

24. How did it get in?

[Critters2]

30. I assume it flew down my chimney. There are always a bunch of grackles huddling

on my chimney, and on the window sills on the south side of my house, when the weather gets cold. The ones on the window sill make for great entertainment for the cats.

[struggle4progress]

35. On a several occasions (years apart), I had bats in my living space:

I finally guessed they were dropping down the chimney after roosting at the top, so I put a chicken wire cover on the chimney opening and haven't seen any more so far

Glad you got the birdbrain out of the attic

[Tuesday Afternoon]

25. Update required -- the rest of the story...

How does it end?

[Jamastiene]

27. Something tells me the bird will wow her and charm her and

she'll have a pet by morning. :P

[Tuesday Afternoon]

28. yeah, right.

:rofl:

The last time it happened to me, I shut the bird in the room and opened the door to the outside. Swoop...it was gone.

Isn't there an old wives tale about some one dying if a bird flies into the house?

[Critters2]

31. I did sort of get used to it being in that room through the night.

But I was glad to see it return to the wild!

[Critters2]

34. Re-posting long story from post #29...

I have nothing against them really, but it needs to be said...birds are stupid! I opened an outside door in the dining room, so it could fly out. But for reasons known only to it...it FLEW UPSTAIRS!!! AARRGGHH!!!

It flew into an extra bedroom that I use for storage. It landed on my Christmas tree! By this time, the temperature was -9, and I was not going to open a window and let that air into the house. So, I closed the door to that room, and let it get used to the idea that it was spending the night.

As soon as the sun was at a decent height to create a little (very little) heat, I opened a window in the storage room and closed the door again. I went to work. I went home at noon and checked on it. It was still there!!!! Shamu sneaked into the room with me, and seeing him freaked the bird. First it flew into the upper parts of both windows. I grabbed Shamu and headed for the door. Just as I did, the bird flew out the window!!!

Now I'm just waiting for my house to warm up again.

Stupid bird.