The Attack of the Killer Bird
I've already explained before how I am a terrible sissy about thousand leggers and spiders. This is especially the case when I have run across them in the house, Aaron always sighs, picks up a shoe/magazine/paper towel, and removes the disgusting critter before it can run at me, legs flailing, shouting, "Gonna getcha! Gonna getcha!!! Mwah ha haaaaa"
So, imagine my surprise last Sunday when I heard a deep baritone voice shout "AUGH!!" and heard footsteps pounding up the stairs from the basement.
Aaron: There is a bird. A bird. A bird in the basement.
Me: Really? Cool! Where's my camera?
Aaron: It FLEW at me!
Me: But, it's just a bird, right? You know, feathers? A beak? Not a bat?
Aaron: It's a bird.
I used to keep a bird or two when I was growing up. A few cockatiels. And then there were the half-dead robins, doves and cardinals that neighborhood kids would show up with on the doorstep.
Little kid: Here, can you fix it?
Me as a bigger kid: Um, well, I don't know. It looks pretty hurt.
Little kid with teary eyes: PLEASE?? My mom won't let me keep it in the house.
My mom was either a total pushover when it came to our pets or maybe we had just worn her down over the years and she gave up. During my childhood, we played host to 4 dogs, 1 cat, 2 ponies, 1 goat, 3 rabbits, 2 cockatiels, a couple of snakes, some gerbils, some hamsters, a couple of turtles, some fish, two chameleons, a guinea pig and a few wild birds which I tried to save. Now that I am a mom? I think she was nuts to give in to all of that.
Anyway, I totally dig birds so I volunteered to get the bird out of the basement. Aaron already thinks I have a weird bird thing since I came home with a white crow four years ago. (Not an albino crow...a white crow with blue eyes. Long story.)
Our bird friend was an juvenile Grackle, pretty common in the neighborhood.
He wasn't in a hurry to leave, even after I opened the door from the basement to the backyard. I slowly tried to herd him towards the door and he just wasn't interested in going that way. Finally, I turned off all of the lights in the basement so that the only source of light was coming from the doorway. Bingo. He flew right out.
I investigated a little and found out that he entered via the chimney. The ash door had been knocked out of the wall, probably when he got to the bottom and panicked. So, the tin ash door was lying in a bunch of cobwebs behind the furnace. That totally grossed me out so I had Aaron put the door back for me.
To each his own phobias.
By the way, here is a picture of my old friend, the white crow, just in case you didn't believe that such a thing existed.
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Comments
That's a good story and smart idea about turning the lights off. That white crow is beautiful.
Posted by: Joe | November 2, 2006 3:30 PM
That white crow is fascinating!
Also, in our previous house, we had birds living in our chimney and one day the cats alerted us to a pair of birds in our fireplace. After a long time of watching them, we figured out they were having sex. Nice.
Posted by: Kristin | November 2, 2006 3:41 PM
PLEASE tell the story of the white crow!
Posted by: Shelley | November 3, 2006 1:31 AM
I had a little Moroccan bird in my office yesterday. And I had a peacock in my bedroom not too long ago. And now looking outside my office window,I have guinee fowl sunning themselves outside. I must be giving out positive bird vibes here in Marrakesh...
Posted by: Maryam in Marrakesh | November 3, 2006 3:15 AM
It took me awhile to figure out where they were coming from. But I used to come home to birds in the house all the time and quickly learned the only source of light trick...
They were getting in through the eaves and a side closet. I would come home and hear this flap flap flap of wings and the occassional thump against a window...
Actually on particularlly blustery day a side window blew open and blew a robin right in.. I came home to find it sitting on my dining room table looking at me like Where the hell have you been I have been sitting here waiting for you
Posted by: Saple | November 3, 2006 10:30 AM
Reminds me of the old line," Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! AUGGH, It's a bird. POPS --30--
Posted by: POPS | November 3, 2006 12:22 PM
What a beautiful crow. You probably already know they are very smart. Do you still have him?
Posted by: Emily | November 3, 2006 10:43 PM