Last night we planned for hubby to grill. Then the weather changed and the wind kicked up. It truly was hubby’s intention to cook out, but when the woods are filled with dried leaves, we always think what could happen should the wind carry an ember into the trees that surround our home. After a little discussion, we decided to order take-out.
There are not a lot of options for take-out that are not fast-food. It was the perfect opportunity for me to suggest Thai food. With the temperature dropping and the wind kicking up, a spicy meal sounded great. I even offered to go along for the pick-up so I could pop in and pick up the food just in case parking was difficult. I could already taste the Panang curry!
The restaurant was very busy and they said it would be forty-five minutes before the food would be ready. We waited patiently then bundled up. I opened the door and heard hubby shout those dreaded words. “A bird flew in the house!” We had been here before.
Not only was there one bird in the house, there were two. Our house is built such that the living room at it’s highest point is about 18’ high. What adds to the challenge is that the hallway on the second level of the house that leads to the bedrooms is open (loft-like) to the downstairs. This gives birds amazing escape routes when we try to corner them.
The poor birds. Little Carolina wrens. We think they nestled into the Christmas wreath still hanging on the front door in an attempt to get out of the cold. When I opened the door to go outside, it must have startled them and in they flew.
So, with hubby armed with a fishing net and me manning the door, the chase was on. We try not to scare the birds, but I know they must have been terrified. When cornered upstairs, they would fly back across the railing to the ceiling below. When cornered downstairs, they would make their way back upstairs. We managed to get one to fly out before we needed to go pickup our Thai food. We closed all the adjoining doors and left.

On our return home, we put the food in the oven to stay warm. We lined the fishing net with a plastic garbage bag so the bird could not fly through the net. I armed myself with an extension pole to tap the high points when it hid in the high corners. I opened both sliding doors downstairs in hopes the bird would find its way outside. 10 minutes into the chase, the bird started flying low. Poor thing. It was tiring and frightened. Luckily, when we went into the kitchen to urge him out, he flew into the living room and out the sliding glass door.
After all that, we only found one small downy feather and two small bird droppings on the floor. After cleanup it was time to eat. Thankfully, Thai food warms up nicely in the microwave.
This post contains today’s Just Jot it January prompt supplied by Faye of Faye’s Mystical Musings and sponsored as always by Linda Hill. Follow the link if you are interested in participating.
We always enjoy Thai food too.
Fortunately, our house is on one level, and no birds have ever flown in. However, we have had bats fall down the chimney that serves the wood burner, and I had to rescue them, as my wife is terrified of them.
https://beetleypete.com/2015/06/18/the-beetley-bat/
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks, Pete. I left you a comment on your Beetley Bat post. Have a great day.
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Patience + Strategy = Success! Glad you were able to coax the birds to safely make their way back outside.
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I was glad, too. They struggle so in cold and windy weather.
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Quite the adventure. Hopefully he can grill today.
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Looks like optimal grilling weather today, Dan.
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There you go! Enjoy.
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Love Thai food – don’t like having to catch birds. Rather than flying in, ours are usually brought in by the cat. Once, it was a collared dove. How she managed to get it through the cat door I don’t know. It was flinging itself against the window pane so easy to catch and release. It flew away – much to the cat’s disgust!
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Mary, cats are natural born hunters. When I was in high school, we had a cat that always brought ‘presents’ and dropped them in my mom’s lap. They were usually small night creatures, like moles.
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Yep, ours brings in little mice as well as birds. Sometimes she lets them go and we once had to dismantle bed when one took up residence!
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Oh, my, Mary. That does not sound like fun! When my husband opened the grill last night, he found some small creature had begun to build a nest in there.
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Yes I too have had birds slip into the house. Not an easy task to make them understand that you INTENTION was to free them.
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It would be easier if we did not have so many escape routes for them!
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Or alcoves where they can hide from the weather.
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My favorite are all the sparrows who live in the rafters of our local Home Depot. I don’t think they even try to remove them. Here in the summer my husband spends much time coaxing birds out of his blueberry netting fortress.
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We always see birds in Home Depot and Lowe’s. It’s like they live a secret life above the fray.
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I’m jealous. All we ever get are bugs…
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We get our fair share of those as well, John.
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Wrens in the house, well, that’s a challenge! We had birds come in to our house in Clemson (don’t remember if they were wrens or not –probably). So glad you were able to get them out to the outdoors, and enjoy your Thai dinner, too.
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Lisa, we often find them huddled up next to the house in inclement weather. Life in the trees must be difficult when we get those high winds.
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What an amazing adventure! Easy for me to say, right??!! Just so glad they made it out alive. Poor babies. You both did a great job.
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We were glad when they found their way out, Nancy. They were so frightened.
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It breaks our hearts to see animals hurt or fearful.
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I could really relate to this. We have had to bring our cooking indoors more times than I can remember. It’s gotten to where we load up our tiny toaster oven and pretend we are grilling outdoors. It doesn’t taste or look the same, but we can be glad we are not out there in the cold and wind. And the animals are grateful as they have a better chance to get some of it.
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We make adjustments when necessary, Anne. The bottom line is finding a way to enjoy it and co-exist with nature at the same time.
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