I’ve been out and now I have a bird in my bedroom. It seems to be dying but I dont seem to be able to encourage it to escape out the window. It doesnt seem to have the strength. When I try and scoop it up it seems to still have the strength to cling to the wooden bits around the floors. This is horrible as I dont seem to be able to help it.

I guess it will die in my bedroom and I am going to sleep in a spare room tonight.

Ahhhhhh. No idea how to rectify the situation 🙁

Try and catch it again, place gently in a shoe box type thing then carry it outside and release it. You may have to pick it up and throw it to get it to take off!

If it is too weak for that, try keeping it in box with some crumbs and water overnight but be prepared it may still die.

Good luck.

Cover it with a soft blanket (it calms them, when its dark they almost switch off), reach under and scoop it up, hold it round its body and wings so it cant flap. It might try to peck you but it wont really hurt. Carry it outside and hold it near a bush or an open grassy bit.
Obviously if its very floppy and non-responsive it might be better to cage it for the night and keep it covered with the blanket. They’re usually fairly ok when being trapped, its if they’re injured that they tend to keel over properly.

Never throw a bird out of the window unless your wife has just come in the front door, but if she is about to die its probably best if you sort a good alibie just in case.

I just cant be dealing with this. It still seems to be moving its head when I gently tap it with a broom, but its wings arent flapping. I’ll try the blanket approach. Still seems to be able to cling on to the wooden wall surround for dear life.

Edit

Well that seemed to work. It was clinging on to a tv aerial for dear life, so I first had to cut off the cable, and then somehow wrapped it in a blanket. The problem was that i didn’t want to accidently hurt it or break one of its legs or wings.

managed to get it out of the house, and the good news is that it flew off, so maybe it was just really scarred or lost and didn’t know what to do.

are you talking about birds in the 70’s sense or the avian sense?

The litteral sense not as in the Norwegian Wood sense.

managed to get it out of the house, and the good news is that it flew off, so maybe it was just really scarred or lost and didn’t know what to do.

Sounds like it was just p155ed to me. It’s probably in some tree somewhere right now, with a stinking head and a really dry mouth.

i hope there is a picture for the group Simon!

Was it a baby robin?

You cut your tv aerial just to avoid prising it off the wire? What a caring guy!

I had a bird in my room once. It would fly around when I was lying in bed but hide down the back of the bed as soon as I moved. I left the room and could hear it flapping about again, but each time I’d come in it would again shoot down the back of the bed and hide. I came in again and managed to block the gap behind the bed with a pillow before it flew down there. It tried to fly down it and got wedged between the wall and the pillow, stupid little thing! Stuck there with it’s bum in the air haha! I could then pick it up and let it out of the window, where it flew off with gay abandon.

RD – it’s in my B Sides collection already

Yeah – there was a tv cable in my bedroom unused. I don’t have pliers, so it took a while to cut it down to say 10cm. Then I tried to cut the final bit off cable off at the wall but couldn’t get the purchase needed as it was a bad angle and I was scarred I may cut off the bird’s feet (I’m not too great at diy and the like).

I did find another dead bird in my house which was upsetting, and also a few weeks ago there was a bird in my sitting room and i didn’t hear it. It flew into my dining room and at the time I had a coffee in my hand at my computer. I jumped so much there was coffee everywhere, but in that instance I opened a window and it found it’s own way out while I hid in the hallway.

Well that seemed to work. It was clinging on to a tv aerial for dear life, so I first had to cut off the cable,

**** me, what is it? A sea eagle?
I had this adult baby robin in the bedroom a couple of weeks back

(No TV arials were damaged in the filming of this event)

are you a vegan?

Animals dying is not uncommon. Try to be rational about it.

any birds in our house have either been brought in by a cat or are about to meet a cat. Either way, their useful lifespans can be measured in minutes rather than hours from that point onwards.

I know animals die, it’s more a case I was worried I would hurt it. Nothing wrong with worrying about that. And if it was injured, I wouldn’t it to be there for days while it starved.

BTW simon, your bird is/was a swift I think. Having one fly into your house is a symbol of good luck in some cultures. And a tasty snack in others.

Your floor could do with a hoover:)

As said, it was a swift
Probably a bit knackered after its migration North

They don’t have great ability to land & take off from flat surfaces [very tiny feet] so often get stranded like that – I’ve picked a few up & helped them get airborne again.

Have I read this right? You are a Ripper-type character who is looking for help finishing off/disposing of a body?

You need…

Oh, and your floorboards are due a sweep 🙂

Yeah yeah, but the bird was behind the chest of drawers, which I had to pull out, hence the dirt on that part of the floor which I do not normally worry about 🙂

or a house-martin?

I think it’s a Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus).
Not sure about it’s strength of grip though, I think it gets it’s name for “not having feet” in Greek. 😆
Any more photos of it Si?

It still seems to be moving its head when I gently tap it with a broom

I’m still sniggering at the compassionate effort of help.
“here little birdie ‘donk donk’ are you alright?”

It would,ve been dehydrated and concussed, next some spray it with a little water, in the mouth if possible(just a little mind and not with a jet wash) then open the window wide blanking off the unopened glazing and leave the room for 30mins. If then if it’s still there get mean and put more effort in lifting it up, slide your hands under so you can feel it legs between you fingers and gently lift, pry it’s claws off with the other hand (bear in mind that the swift has uber short legs, but small sharp claws to hold on to vert surfaces) and gently pry off it’s grip
And finally MTFU, your faffing and panicking is only stressing it out more.

you’ll have more than little birds to worry about when you move down to devon, the uk’s most venomous spider is own there and lives in houses, then there’s all the brummies. *shudders*

Ah well Sharki, I wouldn’t say I am phobic but there is no way I could hold a bird with my bare hands. Forget it. I think it’s the flappiness and claws. Ewugh. That’s why I used the broom – the longest thing I could think of.

I have happily shared a sweatlodge in the amazon with a tarantula spider so I am sure I will be fine with whatever devon throws at me.

Roper – yeah – I have a closer photo but it’s on my laptop at home.

Are we doing Secreta – Tarifa then on Saturday? I did send you an email.

Definitely keen for the Tarifa route. The weather forecast is 24C ish so should be nice and clear with the cool breeze.
I’ll send an email.

how did oyu get a bird in your bedroom in the first place? I always struggle

I think I had the window open in the daytime, but then the others I think may be nesting in the roof and coming in through the kitchen ceiling where the ceiling collapsed a few months back but has not been repaired.

Perhaps it was carrying a coconut and was therefore knackered after the long journey?

I love the chat about cats – they truly belong in the ecosystem – killing birds for fun. Definitely something to enjoy and laugh at. Thanks for the insight Samuri.

they truly belong in the ecosystem – killing birds for fun
It does make perfect sense for any carnivore to take pleasure from the process of killing though. Afterall they wouldn’t survive very long as a species if they suffered pangs of guilt and regret 🙂

Make the room very dark then open a window and curtains, if it is not dead or dying it will make for the light and escape into the jaws of a cat. (probably)

You should have wrung it’s neck and put it out of its misery rather than sending it outside to a lingering death or immediate vulnerability to predation.

Well that did cross my mind but there is no way I could have done that!

But it did seem to be able to fly fine once outside.

I thought it was one of these

Perhaps it was carrying a coconut and was therefore knackered after the long journey?

A swift couldn’t carry a coconut…

African or European?

I dunno…

🙂

I know this threads full of people taking the Pi$$, but I think Simon’s stance is nice. Except for the tapping with the broom.. I mean….

Birds are still creatures, that suffer hunger and fear, and our higher level of intenigence allow us empathy that other mammals don’t. It may end up part of the future food chain of some other bird or mammal, but at least not intervening keeps nature in kilter.

Why kill or be beastly to an animal if it doesn’t deserve it. And yes, I am a veggie. I don’t mind people eating meat, I don’t view it as abhorrant or un natural,but frankly putting a captive bolt gun to a calfs head and yanking out the spinal cord is something I couldn’t ever bring myself to do, in present society terms. (Perhaps if I were starving/desert Island that might all change). If I am not prepared to do so, then who am I to ask others to do that?