I was downstairs in the break room at the end of the day when I noticed a little bird pecking at the glass. At first glance, I thought he was outside trying to get in, but it was just the opposite.
My office sits atop a working warehouse, and it's not unusual for a feathered friend to gain entry now and again. I've even had a showdown with a wayward squirrel... but that's a story for another time.
This poor little guy was clearly confused- trampolining himself against the glass at the bottom of the window in a recess behind the wall-length vent. I knew his fate if I left him to fend for himself so I looked around for some way to save him.
My first choice was a coffee cup and a paper plate. Sometimes your first instincts are not the best. (As an aside: birds do not respond well to 'happy puppy noises'.) I ended up beaning him once pretty harshly. I thought I had killed him, but soon he was thrashing against the pane even more vehemently than before. Eventually I found a clear plastic cup and teaming it with a styrofoam cup, I was able to contain him.
As I walked down the hall I kept telling him (and me): it'll be alright; it'll be alright; it'll be alright. But I wasn't sure. I feared my clubbing with the coffee cup might have damaged his wing. He was holding it rather awkwardly. Finally, I pushed open the big steel side door and gingerly separated the two cups in the grass.
In that glorious moment of emancipation, he flew off into the waning sun and I instantaneously breathed a sigh of relief and let out a gasp of horror as I heard that big steel door slam shut with me on the outside.
No keys. No phone. No good deed goes unpunished.
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