Visit from a bird (with feathers)
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:41 am
I was in Germany last week, got back late on Thursday, went straight to bed having picked up the fire guard which had fallen over. Got up at 6am and went straight to w*rk Friday. Returned home at 11:30 Friday night. Made a cup of tea..............
and then I noticed a small 2" feather on the kitchen floor.....thought nothing of it......
wait a minute, feather .......fire guard.........visiting bird @#! sh*t
Switch the lights on in the lounge, took a wee look up the stairs.......every plant on the ground, every picture off the window sills, looked like a robbery!
Wandered up the steps into the living room, then I saw a great big feather, 8" long brown with lots of markings. sh*t, its a big bird, Buzzard?
Then the search began, plenty bird sh*t, more feathers, every window had been tried by the poor beast. The end walls in the living room are all glass, it had tried everyone.
No sign of it, so nothing else for it........finish my cup of tea..............
Wait a minute, it has to be there somewhere. Check again.........
Ahhhh, perched on a stereo in a window sill tucked behind a curtain in near perfect shadow, was a fully grown Tawny Owl, about 45cm tall, a beautiful looking bird, totally calm, and looking right back at me! ..........sh*t he's probably hungry........do Owls attack people.........Nah he looks too cute. Call my neighbour down just in case (he used to have parrots so should be useful)
We worked our way around the room opening all the doors (there are heaps).
It was harder for him to hit glass than go through a door to freedom. With a little disturbance of the curtain he took off and flew.............................. straight into a window..........Bugger.
We chatted with him for a while at his new perch ontop of another window sill..............he was still amazingly calm.
Then finally with a little encouragement he swooped off the perch, flew to the other end of the room and out a set of double doors. His wingspan must have been the full width of the doors, 1.2m, a beautiful beast.
Hopefully he made it down the road before the local chippy closed and managed to get a Mouse Supper, must have been hungry.
How an Owl of that size managed to fall down a fairly narrow chimney I'll never know. Time to go and start cleaning up the mess!
Kerry
and then I noticed a small 2" feather on the kitchen floor.....thought nothing of it......
wait a minute, feather .......fire guard.........visiting bird @#! sh*t
Switch the lights on in the lounge, took a wee look up the stairs.......every plant on the ground, every picture off the window sills, looked like a robbery!
Wandered up the steps into the living room, then I saw a great big feather, 8" long brown with lots of markings. sh*t, its a big bird, Buzzard?
Then the search began, plenty bird sh*t, more feathers, every window had been tried by the poor beast. The end walls in the living room are all glass, it had tried everyone.
No sign of it, so nothing else for it........finish my cup of tea..............
Wait a minute, it has to be there somewhere. Check again.........
Ahhhh, perched on a stereo in a window sill tucked behind a curtain in near perfect shadow, was a fully grown Tawny Owl, about 45cm tall, a beautiful looking bird, totally calm, and looking right back at me! ..........sh*t he's probably hungry........do Owls attack people.........Nah he looks too cute. Call my neighbour down just in case (he used to have parrots so should be useful)
We worked our way around the room opening all the doors (there are heaps).
It was harder for him to hit glass than go through a door to freedom. With a little disturbance of the curtain he took off and flew.............................. straight into a window..........Bugger.
We chatted with him for a while at his new perch ontop of another window sill..............he was still amazingly calm.
Then finally with a little encouragement he swooped off the perch, flew to the other end of the room and out a set of double doors. His wingspan must have been the full width of the doors, 1.2m, a beautiful beast.
Hopefully he made it down the road before the local chippy closed and managed to get a Mouse Supper, must have been hungry.
How an Owl of that size managed to fall down a fairly narrow chimney I'll never know. Time to go and start cleaning up the mess!
Kerry
