Writing a "Bird Sightings" column for a local Audubon chapter newsletter one
often gets unusual reports. Here's a "can you top this" report for your
"chimney birds" section:
This Spring a resident of an area located near the Whynoochee River sloughs,
hard-by the Chehalis River, just east of Aberdeen reported to me, as bird
sighting editor of the Grays Harbor Audubon "Sandpiper", that she and her
husband heard an unusual noise emanating from the chimney behind their
fireplace insert. The mild noise contined for a couple of days and on the
third day grew sufficiently loud for them to not only take a look but to get
the darned thing out of there. What was it? Most likely a starling,
possibly a Robin or swallow, too early for a swift. After considerable
effort they hauled down a.....female Green-winged Teal. Out of the house it
flew, toward the Chehalis River. Maybe to find a better place to start a nest?
DJ Beatty