Anonymouse
23-03-2009, 23:02
At work, this time - to explain:
I was heading down a stairwell, I turned a corner...and there's a bird standing on a stair looking at me!
(The kind with wings and feathers, that is - we don't get the other sort in our job :()
First thought: we're on the 3rd floor. The stairwell windows don't open. How the hell did it get up here?
Second thought: how the hell am I going to catch it?
But I did. I very slowly approached it while it was part-way up the staircase and thus effectively blocked in on three sides (i.e. in the corner of the wall, the stair it was standing on and the stair above), and very gently tossed my sweatshirt over it. Got it first time.
Just a matter then of gathering the poor thing up, dashing down the stairs, making my way to the outside yard and releasing it - sorted!
I could've reported it to security and left them to it, but I didn't trust them to do it properly. Nor would it occur to them to call the RSPCA. Also, I was worried the bird might brain itself or break its neck trying to fly through the windows by the time anyone else got there. So instead I took a leaf out of Simon Cowell's book (Wildlife SOS) and improvised, and it worked. :)
I was concerned the bird would stress out if handled directly - birds have an innate terror of being held, as they instinctively associate that with the imminent threat of being eaten - but on the other hand they tend to be calmer if you cover their eyes with a dark cloth. Certainly it hardly struggled once wrapped in the (navy blue) sweatshirt, a great relief because I didn't want it to hurt itself. Once released, it seemed none the worse for wear, and flew off.
In the last few years, my tally has been:
Today's bird (I'm not sure of the species; dull brown, a bit bigger than a starling);
A grey squirrel (RTA victim);
Two frogs (one of which was hit by a car and somehow survived intact);
Two hedgehogs (potential RTAs - I moved them onto the pavement);
Two butterflies (trapped on the 5th floor of the warehouse)
- maybe I should move to Leatherhead, Surrey and ask Simon Cowell if he could use another volunteer!
I was heading down a stairwell, I turned a corner...and there's a bird standing on a stair looking at me!
(The kind with wings and feathers, that is - we don't get the other sort in our job :()
First thought: we're on the 3rd floor. The stairwell windows don't open. How the hell did it get up here?
Second thought: how the hell am I going to catch it?
But I did. I very slowly approached it while it was part-way up the staircase and thus effectively blocked in on three sides (i.e. in the corner of the wall, the stair it was standing on and the stair above), and very gently tossed my sweatshirt over it. Got it first time.
Just a matter then of gathering the poor thing up, dashing down the stairs, making my way to the outside yard and releasing it - sorted!
I could've reported it to security and left them to it, but I didn't trust them to do it properly. Nor would it occur to them to call the RSPCA. Also, I was worried the bird might brain itself or break its neck trying to fly through the windows by the time anyone else got there. So instead I took a leaf out of Simon Cowell's book (Wildlife SOS) and improvised, and it worked. :)
I was concerned the bird would stress out if handled directly - birds have an innate terror of being held, as they instinctively associate that with the imminent threat of being eaten - but on the other hand they tend to be calmer if you cover their eyes with a dark cloth. Certainly it hardly struggled once wrapped in the (navy blue) sweatshirt, a great relief because I didn't want it to hurt itself. Once released, it seemed none the worse for wear, and flew off.
In the last few years, my tally has been:
Today's bird (I'm not sure of the species; dull brown, a bit bigger than a starling);
A grey squirrel (RTA victim);
Two frogs (one of which was hit by a car and somehow survived intact);
Two hedgehogs (potential RTAs - I moved them onto the pavement);
Two butterflies (trapped on the 5th floor of the warehouse)
- maybe I should move to Leatherhead, Surrey and ask Simon Cowell if he could use another volunteer!