Fishing for Starlings

The call came in as a bird in the fireplace. Fairly common call, the bird, usually a starling falls down the chimney and sits on the damper, jumping and flapping around. These calls are normally solved by opening the damper a bit until the bird sticks his head through and you can grab him and pull him out. Not the case this time. Upon inspection of the fireplace I observed that the damper was open and I could see straight up into the sky. No bird in there, but I could plainly hear him jumping and fluttering around. The fireplace was an insert and the stove pipe went straight up the flue, leaving a gap around the whole pipe. This is where the bird was located. There was no way to get him from the bottom and no vents to go through, so up on the roof I went. Two stories high staring down the gap between the stove pipe and the flue, I could see the bird down on the bottom, but now how to get him out. After thinking for a minute, I cut a piece of wood about 3 inches by 5 inches. I then drilled a 1/2 inch hole in the top and tied it to a piece of rope, creating like a pendulum. I then cut a glue board to fit the board and stapled it to the board. I then began to lower it down the gap hoping to stick the bird with it and pull him up. After getting it by the many brackets that lined the pipe the whole way down, I finally got it to the bottom, but of course not near the bird. For the next 45 minutes I kept bringing it up and down until I eventually was able to stick it to the bird. I slowly brought the whole thing up, as not to lose the bird. Once at the top, I told myself that my first fishing for starlings trip was successful. Cayuga Creek Nuisance Wildlife Removal is a full service animal control company. We can be reached at 716-903-0758 or visit us on the web at www.cayugacreekwildlife.com

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Starlings in the fireplace

Customer called and said she had a squirrel in her fireplace above the damper. I told her I was actually only about 20 minutes away and would be there shortly. I told the customer on the phone that it was probable starlings on the damper and not a squirrel, but she insisted it was a squirrel. Upon arrivial she showed me the the fireplace, I immediately could tell it was birds. I opened the damper about and inch and a starling poked his head through, I grabbed him, reclosed the damper and put him in a cage. I then opened the damper again and a second one, poked his head through and I was able to grab him and get em in the cage. After opening the damper all the way a dead starling was also discovered, and removed. Customer did not have a proper chiminey cap on which allowed the birds access to the fireplace. We can be contacted at www.cayugacreekwildlife.com