Ever had a bird get stuck in your chimney and get out via the fireplace? We did, tonight. (Although we have a wood stove and not a true fireplace.) How the bird got in the chimney, I don’t know; I imagine it must have fallen in, but I didn’t think birds were that clumsy. At any rate, it kept scratching and scraping around in the chimney pipe, and when I finally figured out how to open the flue between the stove and the chimney area, out pops this bird.

Before I could catch it (I was wearing gloves), it escaped and flew around the house for a few minutes before being herded out through the skylight. That was quite a sight. The other animals were quite excited (three cats and a dog); I suppose after years of watching birds taunt them through the windows this must have seemed like winning the lottery.