… About the Bird Pete Found in the House

Things got exciting at the Beard house today! Somewhere outside, near the front door, there seems to be a place that birds get in — we think it’s where some different roof angles come together. It doesn’t happen all the time, but every year or two we find a bird in the basement. Usually we’ll hear some chirping in the walls for a few days,  then the cats will start acting weird — they go to a room in the basement and stare intently at what we think is nothing — and eventually a bird magically appears. Rob usually spends an hour or so chasing it (dodging the cats, who try to help him) and then eventually he catches it and lets it go outside.

We’d been hearing lots of chirping coming from the front door area for the past day or two but it sounded like it was coming from inside the wall. We kept checking the basement but never found anything. Then today I was sitting on the couch when I heard some chirping that was much louder than what we’d been hearing, so I was pretty sure we’d be finding a bird soon. I heard more chirping and realized I should do a quick “catventory” (an “inventory” of where each cat is in the house). Otis was sleeping on the coach next to me but I didn’t see Pete and Leo on the first floor. I didn’t hear any more chirping so I sat back down, deciding not to worry about it.

All of a sudden I heard more chirping and then saw Pete and Leo sort of fast-trot out of the basement. They went under a desk in the dining room, which was odd, so I got up to see what they were doing… and there was a bird! We figured out later that Pete must have caught it in the basement and carried it upstairs. It wasn’t really moving and Pete and Leo were hovering over it, so I instantly started freaking out. I called Rob at work (which I don’t usually do) and when he answered I just kept yelling “Pete caught a bird! Pete caught a bird!” while I’m trying to keep Pete and Leo away from it. (Meanwhile, Otis is still snoozing on the couch.)

I’m not afraid of birds, alive or dead, but I didn’t know what to do with an injured bird. If it’s hurt, what do I do? Take it somewhere? Where? Put it out of its misery? How? It wasn’t really moving so I assumed the worst.  I got a few plastic bags and tried to pick it up, but since the bags were slippery and I was afraid to squeeze too hard I couldn’t get a hold of it. Then, without warning, it took off flying into the kitchen. I was happy to see that it could fly but then I realized Pete and Leo were chasing along behind it. Pete finally caught it (again!) and carried it under the table. I started freaking out again and Rob — who was still on the phone with me — was trying to figure out what was going on.

Luckily my squealing startled Pete enough that he dropped the bird and I was able to get it scooped up in the bag. So I’m out of breath trying to fill Rob in on what happened, Pete and Leo are still “on alert” and following me around, and Otis… well, he’s still just laying on the couch. (He chases us around the house sometimes yet he doesn’t care that there’s a bird flying around?) When I finally calmed down enough to check out the bird I was shocked to discover that there was no blood, no obvious puncture wounds, no missing parts — no injuries at all that I can see. The bird starting perking up and moving around in the bag, so after consulting with Rob (and finally ending our phone call) I took it to the front yard and put it under a bush. As I headed back in I turned around to check on it and it was already out of sight or had flown away. Success!

There were some birds that had started hanging around the front door when we started hearing the chirping in the walls and we “assumed” (pretended?) that they were its parents. They were out there when I let it go, but we didn’t see them later, so perhaps there was a reunion and they all lived happily ever after… at least that’s what we like to think. Can you imagine the story that bird was telling? “And then I fell into a building, and then these beasts caught me and carried me around, and then this big creature that kept screaming put me in a bag and took me outside and then I flew away!”

So that’s the story about Pete catching a bird in the house. That’s him below right after the “hunt,” looking very lion-y — and notice his evil glowing eyes (ha, ha)! We’re not sure but we think the bird was a House Sparrow. There’s one thing we are sure about: it was a very, very lucky bird!