More happiness for bluebirds

Several times a year our Boston terrier alerts us to commotions in the woodstove where we usually will find a bluebird trapped in the soot and ashes.

While cleaning out the flue this year I added some hardware cloth (screen mesh) to the flue cap to keep out our feathered friends.

If the bluebirds are happy, we're happy.

Bluebird not so happy

In my post from Friday I told about the bluebirds frolicking in the yard after a rain and how happy they seemed. They aren't too happy when they wind up in the wood stove.

For some reason, bluebirds are intent on building nests in the metal cap that covers the pipe from our breakfast room stove. The cap looks bird-proof to me, but they find a way in. Occasionally, one will drop down into the stove.

Nelly, our Boston terrier, is quite the bird dog. She alerts us when we have a bird in hand, so to speak.

I usually manage to get them out without harm, just a beak full of soot.

It's a family affair

I sat on the front porch one rainy morning this week and was treated to a show by a pair of bluebirds that have made Deerfield their home. They stay near the house and play tag in the front woods. I'm pretty sure it's the same pair that live in a small house we have attached to a fence post near our driveway. They had four eggs in the spring. We didn't want to disturb them further, so we did not see the babies.

Where you see one, you will soon see the other. They pick at each other, chase each other and frolic like there's no tomorrow. Wait . . . could these be the bluebirds of happiness?

Bluebird rescue continues

Our physician son has taken over bluebird rescue duties at Deerfield during his visit. It's a family affair.

Nelly stands vigilant watch by the stove to alert us when there's a bluebird trapped.

This morning's rescue was particularly satisfying. When Lem released the bluebird on the porch, it was enthusiastically greeted by its relatives and welcomed back to freedom with loud chirping and fanfare. The birds played tag in the woods and then merrily went on about their business.

We are three out of four on stove rescues. Bluebirds have friends in Deerfield.

A tale of two bluebirds

Our dog, Nelly, knew something was amiss in the cold ashes of the warm-morning stove in our breakfast room. She kept pawing and whining at the stove and brick hearth. Then we heard the chirping.

I opened the door of the stove this morning to find two bluebirds -- one dead and one very much alive. I removed the dead bird and carried it to the woods. I stroked the feathers to find they are very much a beige with with just the tips costuming the bird in blue. Its burial place was a nice pile of leaves. I see why John James Audubon shot and trapped the birds he painted (photo from a print we have). That's the only way you can really take a close look at one. Inquisitiveness has its price.

I gently corralled the live bird and took it to the front porch. As I went to put it down to see if it might survive, it took flight to the woods, apparently no worse for spending the night in the stove.

I thought the cap on our chimney was bird proof, but bluebirds have a way of sneaking into small spaces. Next time I'm on the roof I'll check it.

One bluebird gone, but one survived. Small blessings.