Birdbrain

This crazy guy got down the stove pipe to our wood burning stove about 4 days ago and made quite a racket scratching around and chirping. Eventually he made his way into the firebox, and we opened the doors. He flew out and threw himself against the windows a few times before we could toss a towel on him and take him outside.

Then the goofball did it again! Almost immediately! So we tossed the towel on him, built a fire in the stove, and released him outdoors. That did the trick.

Then last night darned if he (or someone who looks just like him wasn't flying around in the house again. We have no idea how he got loose in the house. No open windows or doors, the wood stove was all closed up. We're guessing the got into the attic and then came down where the ceiling and walls don't quite fit together.

Apparently this little guy (or gal) longs to be an indoor bird.

I looked him up in my bird guide and learned that he is a European Starling, whose habitat is all over the United States. In the winter he has a dark bill, brown back, and speckled breast, throat, and shoulders. In the summer he has a yellow bill, brown back and shoulders, and iridiscent head and breast. He keeps speckles low on his belly from his legs to his tail. So this guy is pretty well into his summer plumage.

He is "Often an abundant pest in city parks suburbs, and farms."
Chandler S. Robbins, Bertel Brunn, and Herbert S. Zim, Birds of North America (New York: Golden Press, 1983)