Screechers Are On The Loose!

  Several years ago, my niece, Kammie, described some of the critters of the Bayou as "Screechers".  This was a slip of the tongue as she meant to say "scary creatures" but combined the two words.  I liked this better than scary creatures so it became the name of a certain bunch of creatures. In the fireplace each summer, a growing number of chimney swifts make their nests.  Once the eggs hatch, the tiny birds start to make noises as the parent birds fly in to feed them.  All birds do the same only with the chimney swifts being confined in what, more or less, is a giant tunnel, the noise is loud.  Most folks would have immediately called an exterminator to rid the chimney of the birds but then complained of the bugs around the Bayou.  I rather like the birds, their penchant for biting insects and even their noisy screeching.  I love the Screechers of the Bayou!

  For the past several days, I kept telling Son that it sounded like one of the Screechers had fallen to the bottom of the fireplace.  To me, it sounded as if the bird was in the firebox and not the chimney.  I feared that the parent birds would overlook this little one and not feed it. Still, the bird did not seem to be weakening so, perhaps, my fears were for naught.  Then, this morning,  it sounded as if the bird was fluttering inside the house!  SON!!! 

  He and I (armed with flashlights) started searching the dining room.  My first thought was that the bird was inside the antique parlor stove.  This old cast iron stove is vented up through the chimney.  While I took off the burner plate on top, Son took off the protective grating on the front of the stove and set it to the side.  Nope, no bird inside the parlor stove!  Where was that thing??  Son reached down to pick up the grate to replace it when a frantic fluttering again took place.  The tiny bird had been clinging to the grating when he had removed it!  Now, the bird was on the loose inside the house!

  After about five minutes of (gentle) bird-chasing, the little tyke settled down near the newel post.  I reached down, picked up the bird and consoled it.  The bird sat calmly in my hand.  Son took a photo of it but refused to use the flash.  "It has been living in the dark all of its life.  The light will harm its eyes." he told me.  So, the photo was dark, the bird was put back in the fireplace and all was good.  As soon as I held my hand behind the stove board that covers the fireplace front, the little bird flew up the chimney to be with his siblings.  Probably by tomorrow, the birds will have all flown up the chimney and out the top.  This little one probably would have been ok on his own outside but it was best to let him be with the others for his first flight. Happy flying, Little Screecher!  Come back to see us now!