RLF / Wraiths

[Mad_Gerbil]

There was alot of scraping about and screeching behind the ole' furnance yesterday. At first I thought we had a bat back there - since we've a tendency to get bats in our basement. I grabbed a towel so I could capture it and set it outside.

As it turns out it was a baby bird - a tough little fighter. The yelling didn't stop with him though, he had a sibling still in the exhaust pipe of the furnance that runs up the chimney. I had to reach up there to get the little guy and before it was all done we had two very active chicks.

This sort of thing always puts me in a bad mood because there is almost nothing that can be done. They don't like to eat - as they are always so scared and it seems like I'm stuck watching them starve to death. It puts me in a very miserable mood when this happens - I hate being helpless.

My daughters didn't feel that way, however. They hopped onto the internet and found a guide for helping out wild chicks - and although the birds didn't take food on the first day they ate like little beggers on the 2nd day. Ya have to feed them the right way - and the right kinds of things - and so today they were fed every 45 minutes until they'd eat no more.

While I was at work my wife called around to ask about them - and suprise, turns out we had a couple of Chimney Swifts. http://www.chimneyswifts.org/

As it turns out, Chimney Swifts are Federally Protected and there are conservation efforts underway. It is illegal for us to care for them - so we contacted a local licensed care giver and we turn the two healthy chicks over to her.

There are still more chicks in the chimney, we can hear them when they get fed because they make all kinds of racket. I was gonna cover my chimney once they were out of there but now I think I'll leave it open so the birds have a place to nest every year. This is so cool.
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Thief Kills: 251
Loot Returned: 30,980
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[Fuzzy Bunny]

Cool

Something similar happened with a small owl at my house. Except that it flew into a window... We ended up handing it off to someone who could take care of it.
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It's not behind the rabbit, it is the rabbit!

-Stats-
Thiefs Killed: 115
Suicides: 42
Badges: RLF Comet

[Behind You]

Pretty cool.

A couple of White Tailed Kites are nesting in the Redwood trees in my backyard. It's neat to watch them hunt snakes, they're really fast when they dive... (They scared off all the crows too )

[LaughingRat]

Umm. You'll want to be careful about letting birds nest in your furnace chimney. My grandmother died from carbon monoxide poisoning because it backed up due to a furnace chimney blocked by a bird's nest.
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If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.

[Mad_Gerbil]

[LaughingRat]

You've already found some information on chimney swifts. Maybe you could find out what sorts of birdhouses to make for them and put some of them out. Everyone wins that way. The birds get a home, and you don't asphyxiate!

Just do be sure to clean out the nests before you fire up your furnace for those balmy Michigan winters.
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If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.

[Cap'n Cool]

Hey MG, it doesn't look too difficult to build a suitable nesting area for the birds. I think you should do it (I'll give you a hand if you want). I didn't even know we had these types of birds in our area. Very cool.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking...