Help! Owl in chimney..?

[ladelfina]

Yesterday and today I heard a hooting noise and realized it's coming from our chimney. I think there's an owl in there.

Tonight we will turn off the heat in the living room and leave doors and windows to the outside open (also the damper open in the FP) and hope he (or she) comes out.

I don't hear any struggling or other movement, and we have only heard two calls, one last night and one this evening, but very close and the second time definitely from the chimney.

Hoo-HOOo---HOO!

Maybe it is just nesting up above and isn't currently in difficulty? I hope that's the case. I put out a dish of water and a bit of raw meat below in the fireplace. Maybe that will draw it out?

I asked my husband if there was an organization like the SPCA in Italy, and he said, "No, probabilmente ci verrà qualcuno a darci una multa!" [No, probably someone will come and give us a fine!] Ever the optimist (realist)...

Anyone else dealt with an owl?

 

[wabmester]

If it's really in your chimney, it'll eventually land in your fireplace. Birds can't fly too well in chimneys.

 

[farmerEd]

Have you considered building a fire?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Make sure you whip up a nice barbecue sauce before making the fire.

[homer] Mmmmm...owl! [/homer]

 

[JPatrick]

I would try burning a few pieces of newspaper.  Just something that will drop a serious hint to Mr Owl without creating a 3 piece Xtra Crispy meal.
Yah want fries with that? 

 

[haha]

Very likely the owl is perching on your chimney, not in it. Can you look up there with a flashlight? Or get on the roof and look down? I have had starlings and grackles in my chimney, but never an owl.

Go out there at night when you hear her and have a look.

Ha

 

[maddythebeagle]

You can get chimney rainhats/caps at the home improvement stores. Just make sure the critter isnt in there when you install it.

 

[ladelfina]

All clear this am on the owl front. Now that it's daylight I can see all the way up and there aren't any owls or any other obstructions like a nest. It could indeed have been perching, but the call was very loud inside the house! If it had been in the chimney, one way or the other it got out.

Owls are so cool. I read they live to be 20-25 years old!

Time to call the spazzacamino or somebody to put a wire mesh up there, if there isn't already.

Whew! I really didn't want a roasted owl.

 

[Howard]

You were fortunate not to get Racoons, so get that chimney capped.

Racoons create a hell of a mess and they frequently will build a nest in a chimney.

 

[ladelfina]

No raccoons in Italy, and not many squirrels, either. We have 50 oak trees on our property and I have seen one (1) small black squirrel in a year and a half. It's weird not to have "wildlife" around much. In exchange there are chickens, geese, donkeys, horses, and oxen all within earshot. In less populated areas there are wild boar and giant porcupines (weighing up to 40-45 pounds!) with quills about a foot long.

P.S. you are right about the raccoons, though. I think squirrels can be even worse, though. People I knew had some grey squirrels that had gotten into the house and in the space of a few of hours trashed the place..

 

[Craig]

We had a bird fall down into our chimney once ... ended up just above the flue, on sort of a shelf above the damper. This was not a chimney where you could just look up and see sky.

He couldn't get back up the chimney, and apparently couldn't get down to the hearth, past the flue. To save him, I reached up and over the flue, "chased" him around with my hand until I caught a wing, and carefully brought him up and over the flue, down and out ... then to the front door, where he was oh so glad to take flight again.

We put a screen over the chimney to prevent further accidents.

Can you imagine how a bird feels to be sitting on a chimney chirping one minute, and then falling down into that hole the next?

 

[BUM]

Can you imagine how a bird feels to be sitting on a chimney chirping one minute, and then falling down into that hole the next?

Smoke will do that. Its common for birds to warm themselves perched on the chimney. Overcome with smoke, they fall inside

Ladlefina, as one bird to another...could the "Hoooo Hoo Hooooo" have been a mourning dove?

 

[Outtahere]

I watch the crackles flock around my dads chimney on cold days, I don't know how they don't fall in but he's never had a problem.

 

[Nords]

Just make sure the critter isnt in there when you install it. 

Oh, the result would be the same, it'd just take longer & be a bit messier...

 

[ladelfina]

It definitely wasn't a dove, we have those also.. the doves' call is softer and more 'warbly' for lack of a better term. What we heard was VERY LOUD and piercing.

I think it was an "allocco" or a tawny owl, which are common in this area. It sounded pretty much like this:
http://www.bto.org/gbw/Tawny_Owl_Survey/Listen_to_Tawny_Owls.htm

I have also heard the second "ke-week" sound many times at night outside.

 

[Marshac]

I'm so sorry to have to perpetuate an internet fad....


You have an Owl in your chimney

 

[riskadverse]

My cat fell down the neighbors chimney once.  He was the neighborhood Tom and could hear some females cats in the neighbor's house.  He made quite a ruckus which scared the neighbors half to death (at 1am).  They opened the damper and he shot out.  The next morning I had a real puzzle trying to figure out how "Goldy" became a black cat.