I was doing some laundry in the afternoon and heard a bat in the furnace vents. I called Lloyd and told him that he had a fun job when he got home. Around 7:30, we went down to get it. Well, Lloyd and Cricket were there to get it – I was there to get tools, flashlights, and document.
The weird thing is that this bat was in the flue – we could hear it moving. Lloyd took apart the tube, fashioned a genius bat-catching device (sheet) to the end, and we sat down to wait.
That’s right, that’s a messy picture. There’s no time to straighten up for photos when a bat’s life is on the line. I was too busy taking my position – behind a cabinet, swathed in a blanket.
We waited for nearly TWO HOURS! Lloyd is a brick – I finally said, “We don’t have to do this anymore if you don’t want to.” He said, “Put down your beer, woman, we’re saving a bat!”
With a dying battery I documented how he took apart the other end of the tube, peered inside and said, “Um, it’s a bird.”
A super-duper traumatized bird, actually. He had to take the rest of the flue off, take it outside, shake out the bird, who we believe is an almost-adult.
Dang. We never feel sorry for the bats -they perk right up and fly away. This one might not make it through the night. We gave it some water and moved it away from the Outside Kitty’s lair (seen in the background) to some hopeful safety. Yeah, I’m praying for a bird.
Lloyd is the man.