The Flight of the Mysterious Intruders

The Flight of the Mysterious Intruders

“"Every animal knows more than you do."
-- Native American Proverb (Nez Perce)

I woke up early one morning and Sadie was barking. This was unusual
because she lives by the old proverb: “Always put off until tomorrow
anything that interferes with a nap.”

I decided to go see why she was barking. I peeked into the room and there in
front of the fireplace sat both Sadie and Ally Cat. I could tell at a glance that
they had the fireplace cornered! Each of them had planted themselves on
either side of the hearth, watching it closely. I wondered what would make
them both decide to sit there together with Sadie barking at an empty
fireplace. Ally Cat normally doesn’t descend her lofty throne on the
windowsill for anyone unless food is involved.

It wasn’t the time of year for Santa so I wondered what other intruder
could possibly enter via the chimney. I decided to observe the situation for a while
to see why they were so engrossed with the fireplace so I took my post on the couch
with a cup of tea in hand. The cat switched her tail and laid her ears back as if
offended by my presence in the room. She seemed quite sure that she had
the situation under control and I figured she probably did. She believes in,
“Striking while the feet are bare” and I have learned to wear thick socks.

I was getting bored and about to call off the watch when suddenly I heard
something. Yes, there it was again! It was a scraping sound. Sadie got excited
again, barking and looking at me as if I were completely irresponsible for not
at least having a shotgun handy. About that time, I heard a fluttering noise
along with what could only be described as a bird scream. Yes, there was
a bird in distress in the chimney!

I remembered cleaning the fireplace one time when we first moved into
this house. At that time, I had opened the damper just to test it when a
dead bird fell out. Upon remembering that, what else was there to do?
I couldn’t just leave a screaming bird in the chimney so I decided I would
open the damper to see if I could get the bird out because it obviously
couldn't get out at the top of the chimney.

I began by moving all the stuff away from in front of the fireplace. With all
the paraphernalia out of the way, I needed to move the fire screen so I
pulled it away from the front of the fireplace. Now I was ready to open
the damper so I reached up inside the fireplace, as both animals waited expectantly,
but I couldn't seem to find the damper. After a couple of tries,
I decided that I needed to call for reinforcements. I got to thinking that
my husband might like to be the bird hero of the day and help me. After all,
I didn't want to be greedy and claim all the glory for saving a bird’s life.

I called to my husband a couple of times and finally I heard him say, "Where are you?”
This is coming from the tech man who travels the country and carries
a cell phone, compass, and a global positioning device but he
still can't seem to find me in the house.

Finally, he came into the room, looked the situation over, and said,
“You’re going to let a bird loose in the house?” I couldn't remember the old
proverb about birds flying in the house but I came up with one of my
own, “Better a live bird in the house than a dead one in the chimney.”

“I thought maybe you could catch it before it flies out of the chimney if
you keep the fire screen close to the fireplace”, I suggested.
He didn’t show a lot of enthusiasm about that idea.

It took him no time at all to reach up inside the fireplace and open the damper.
All at once, not one, but TWO birds were flying around in the house and the
dog and cat were going wild! The birds were trying to get away from the dog
that was barking and chasing them and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a
cat jump quite that high before.

I ran for the front door to open it so the birds could fly outside but
the door was stuck! As I tried to hurry, I twisted and pulled
on the doorknob. It finally opened after I put one foot on the wall and pulled
with all my might and fell down. I think I’ll be able to
walk normally again in a month or so.

Now, the next problem was getting the birds to go out the door!
Sadie and Ally were trying to do their part by chasing them and I
imagine those poor birds were wishing they had never
come out of that chimney at all!

I was trying to keep the dog and cat from having an early lunch when
Sadie barked again and one bird found the door and flew away. My husband
began trying to catch the other bird that had gotten in the window behind
the geraniums but it got away from him. Finally, after one more flight through
the house, the last bird also flew out the door to join his friend in a bush outside.

Since we didn't catch a bird, we will never know if the old proverb
is true: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” However, we do know that the
birds were both starlings, so “Birds of a feather do flock together”.