There's a bird in my son's closet...

rhymegirl

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and we don't really know how to get it out.

Apparently it flew into a small hole in the side of the house/roof.

It's not in a place we can easily get to. (between the roof and the bottom part of the closet--so it's the upper part of the closet--with a part of closet wood in the way)

Any suggestions?
 

Seaclusion

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There's a girl in my soup

I thought this was going to be a Goldie Hawn movie.


Have your husband put a pink board over the hole.

Richard
 

KTC

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There's an apple in my daughter's jacket...
 

KTC

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and we don't really know how to get it out.

Apparently it flew into a small hole in the side of the house/roof.

It's not in a place we can easily get to. (between the roof and the bottom part of the closet--so it's the upper part of the closet--with a part of closet wood in the way)

Any suggestions?

cover it with a towel and gently take it outside.
 

rhymegirl

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cover it with a towel and gently take it outside.

We can't do that, Kevin. It's not accessible.

We can hear it in there, but not see it. My husband climbed on a ladder outside and looked in with a flashlight and saw it.

But we can't get at it.
 

KTC

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We can't do that, Kevin. It's not accessible.

Can't you slowly open the closet holding up the towel? Otherwise, shut his room and then open the closet and try to put the towel over it. ??? Or close the door in the room, open the closet and open the window wide and leave it for a while. Duck.
 

rhymegirl

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The closet door IS open. That's not the problem. The closet has a top shelf or two. All these boards between the top of the closet and the bottom part. The bird is up above the shelves somewhere between there and the roof of the house.
 

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oic. I have no idea. Geez. Sounds like an animal control thing...but you know how expensive that can be. Can you get to the attic? Maybe from up there you could reach down and rescue the bird from wherever it is in???
 

alleycat

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I think she means it's between the ceiling joists and the roof rafters.

I'm not sure about this one. It's hard to get a bird out if you open a door or window, let alone if it only has a small hole to get out. Whatever you do, don't panic the bird.

ETA: I was typing as the two posts above were being made.
 

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Is there any way you can remove the shelves? From the description it sounds as if you have limited options. Take away as much as you can, have plenty of light around the exit to help it find the escape route, and block up the hole from the outside afterwards may be all that can be done. Unless there is some way to make the hole from the outside larger, and then repairing it afterwards?
 

rhymegirl

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I think she means it's between the ceiling joists and the roof rafters.

I'm not sure about this one. It's hard to get a bird out if you open a door or window, let alone if it only has a small hole to get out. Whatever you do, don't panic the bird.

ETA: I was typing as the two posts above were being made.

Yes, this is more like what I mean.

My son is tired of listening to tweet tweet tweet.
 

Fenika

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That's a tough one. If it's nesting then it found another way in. Heck, from what I understand I'm guessing it didn't fly through the room.

You might call animal control or a rehabber to see what they suggest.

How long has it been there? Cuz if it's been a while, and it's native, it's a protected nesting bird. Or it's a starling/e. sparrow.

Good luck with that one.
 

alleycat

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This sound like something a Carolina Wren would do. They seem to get themselves in the worst possible places.

I know it would be hard, but the best thing to do is probably nothing and hope the bird will calm down, see the light outside, and go back out. Even if someone can get up into the space, they couldn't catch the bird easily. Even if you make the outside hole larger, when a bird is trapped like that it takes them a while to get their wits back and do the logic thing (not that I suppose birds use much logic anyway).
 

rhymegirl

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We definitely don't want to make the hole larger because more birds will get in. My husband had plugged up that outside hole a few years ago when this happened before. But we had roof work done recently and it opened up that hole again.

I think what happened before is the bird did figure out where the hole was and it flew out and away.
 

ChristineR

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If you know where it got in, the thing to do is wait for it to go out for food and then plug the hole.

If it can't figure out how to get out, then it will probably go out through the closet at some point, at which point the thing to do is close the closet, close your son's door, open the window and take the screen off. If you can't take the screen off, you herd it with a broom to a door to the outside. You can also throw a blanket over it sometimes and catch it that way.

If it's not in there now, if at all possible, fix the hole right away, before it comes back.

In the meantime, give your son earplugs, or let him camp in the living room.
 

rhymegirl

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That's a tough one. If it's nesting then it found another way in. Heck, from what I understand I'm guessing it didn't fly through the room.
How long has it been there? Cuz if it's been a while, and it's native, it's a protected nesting bird. Or it's a starling/e. sparrow.

Good luck with that one.

We think there is a nest. The bird came in from the outside.

I don't know how long it's (or maybe they've) been there. My son only heard the tweeting today.
 

Fenika

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Well, if you plug it now, you risk starved dead babies in your house. And they'll rot.

Is the tweeting small and eager? If so, guaranteed babies, old enough to suddenly hear them. (I don't think any newborns peep much among songbirds. Takes a few days. Not sure tho)
 

Kaiser-Kun

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Why don't you fill the closet with air, so the li'l birdie can ride it to... oh, nevermind. That was for ducks.
 

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Yikes! I had a bird fly in once. They're a pain in the ass to get out. I can't even imagine what to advise if you can't do the towel trick.

Maybe call an exterminator -- not to kill it, but maybe for some advice.