Where's Tippi Hedren When You Need Her?

We've got a couple of songbird nests around our house. Sometimes, one of the parents will accidentally fly into the garage and get trapped trying to escape through a skylight. To get them out, you need to remove a car and put up our Rickety Death Trap Ladder™ so you can climb into the skylight, remove the screen and then shoo the bird out.

Last week, one of the moms flew into our house and, thank God, flew upstairs into the master bedroom. Sometimes, they fly into the staircase skylight which also requires the use of the Rickety Death Trap Ladder™. Horrible.

Anyway, as I said, she flew upstairs. It was almost night, so there was very little light outside. I closed all the doors and opened the sliding glass door onto the balcony, hoping she'd just fly out. Nope. She couldn't see well enough to notice that it was an opening. It just looked like a black rectangle to her.

I chased her around the room a couple of times with a bug net, caught her twice, but was never able to keep her in the net. Finally, she perched on a picture frame and I turned out the lights.

Oddly enough, my night vision was better than hers. I guess I eat more carrots or something. In any case, she just crouched on the picture frame while I walked over and picked her up gently. I let her out onto the balcony and she flew off, much to everyone's relief.

Yay!

Tippi was not waiting downstairs with a triumphant martini. Instead, wife kitteh was there with a beer.
I'll take wife kitteh over Tippi any day of the week.