Yesterday morning when I was bringing the garbage cans in, I noticed a bird fly out of our dryer vent. I had Nate check it out when he got home from work. When he took off the vent cover, he found a huge nest. He couldn’t see any eggs, so he started pulling out all of the grass and twigs and lint. He soon discovered eggs (when one fell out and smashed on the cement). He was more careful after that and safely recovered the two remaining eggs. I couldn’t believe the amount of debris that he pulled out of the vent . . . a bit of a fire hazard. After everything was out, we used a cardboard box to set up a new home for our little intruder. Nate hung up the remodeled nest and then made a new and improved cover for our dryer vent. I’ve seen the mama bird flying to and from the box a few times since the relocation. Hopefully she is happy with her new abode.
Nate naively thought that the job could be accomplished with the ladder and a wire hanger. In the real world, it required a change of clothes, a 12 foot extension pole, some duct tape, a flashlight, and the shop vac. 
We’re not sure if the eggs will still hatch or if they were cooked while they were in the dryer vent. We’ll be watching for baby starlings in a couple of weeks.
Nate naively thought that the job could be accomplished with the ladder and a wire hanger. In the real world, it required a change of clothes, a 12 foot extension pole, some duct tape, a flashlight, and the shop vac. 
7 comments:
I hope the eggs hatch. Have you noticed if your laundry is drying faster? I'm intrigued. I'll take anything to save time doing laundry.
On a side note.. Your family would love The Arches National Park especially Ben. It's a long drive but well worth it.
I love that you made a new home for them, hopefully they hatch.
Your new home cracked me up! That looks like quite the adventure.
That's funny and weird! I was cleaning out our dryer vent just this morning when I went outside to sweep the back porch. As I was pulling out the lint, I wondered if a animal would ever dare go into one of them. I guess now I know! Wouldn't it be very hot? Braden was very intrigued to see the eggs. BTW, why is your dryer vent so high up on your house? I thought they were down low most of the time. Great nest you made for them!
I love your blog!
Ummmmm, I suddenly have an urge to clean my dryer vent!!
It looks like there won't be any baby birds at this house. We found one egg smashed on top of our recycle bin and the other one next to the air conditioner. Nate took the nest box down. We think it had been raided by a different bird. There were the beginnings of a neatly formed nest in one corner (not a starling's style from what we've read). Sorry little birds. We tried.
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