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.
Aw. Looks like a chimney swift.
Wouldn’t euthanizing it have put your mind at ease? All you would’ve had to do was get a shovel and aim at the neck. It would be over in a moment.
or a stick rat trap and a truck
that should say sticky rat trap
I didn’t even think of a shovel. The only two things that came to mind were stomping on it really hard (and the bird bone that would have shot up into the sole of my foot) and hitting it with the brick on top of the cat house, and no-one likes to get hit with a brick.
We had a bird in our dryer vent. When we were putting the vent hose/pipe back together after getting the motor replaced last summer, we discovered it. Arron, like Lloyd, put it outside. We didn’t hold out any hope for it’s recovery though; it was pretty dead when we found it, not mostly dead like your bird.
And did you check on it this morning?
Der vogel ist tot.
Huh?
Carnage.
I laughed out loud at the waiting pictures! Very funny!
And may the angels smile upon you both for your gracious, compassionate efforts!! You are good people!
Have beer, will wait.
Did he get the furnace back together? How do you get so many animals in your furnace? I’ve had a furnace for at least 10 years and haven’t had a single animal get into it. Animals in Nebraska must be odd.