How to Catch a Bird Indoors

Sparrows and other common suburban birds occasionally find their way into homes.

Wild birds that enter a home or office would like nothing better than to get back outside. Being prey animals, they are flighty and panic in novel situations and at any sign of predation. Most birds tend to fly towards daylight and away from darkened areas. You can use these instincts to help you capture the bird and release it outdoors.

Things You'll Need

• Towels or a small, light blanket (such as a baby blanket)
• Butterfly net or other tightly woven net, with an opening circumference larger than the bird (optional)

Instructions

Using a Net to Catch a Bird

1. 

   Covering windows helps you direct the bird where you want it to go.

   Prepare to capture the bird by enclosing it in one room. Close all the blinds or curtains in the other rooms, and cover any bare windows with towels or blankets. Turn off the lights. This will encourage the bird to fly to the lit room.

2. Slowly and quietly approach the bird with a towel held stretched out in between your hands, like a flag. When the bird takes flight, use your towel to guide the bird to the lit room from several feet behind it as if you were herding it. For example, if the bird starts to veer right and you need it to go left, smoothly begin a move toward the right at a trajectory that would put you out to the right of the bird when you caught up to it. The bird will be able to anticipate your impending interception and immediately begin to veer left to avoid you.

   Continue herding the bird until you get it into the desired room. Hold the towel up as a barrier to prevent it from flying back over your head, if needed.

3. Close the door or have another person stand in the doorway to prevent the bird from flying back out. Darken the room as much as possible to calm the bird and discourage it from flying.

4. Use your net to catch the bird. Approach the bird slowly with your net held up and out in front of you. As the bird takes flight at your approach, quickly place the net above the bird's head, intercepting it. The bird will fly into the net.

5. Quickly swing the net down and close the net opening by grasping the netting just below the ring in your hand. Be careful not to touch the bird.

6. Walk the bird outside. Let go of the netting and allow the bird to take flight. If the bird does not fly off, gently set the net on the ground, placing the ring over the bird so the net is open and the bird is not enveloped in the mesh. Slowly step away. Keep watch until the bird flies off, protecting it from predators.

Using a Towel or Blanket to Catch a Bird

1. Approach the confined bird slowly with your towel or blanket stretched out between your hands. As the bird takes flight, throw the towel/blanket up and over the top of the bird. Grab the ends of the cloth as it falls and enclose the bird in it. If you let the towel/blanket fall to the ground, the bird may be able to fly out from underneath it before it reaches the floor.

2. Walk the bird outside, wrapped as loosely as possible in the towel/blanket.

3. Open the ends of the material to release the bird.

Tips & Warnings

• It may take a few tries to catch the bird in the net or towel. Remain calm and move slowly, giving the bird a chance to rest between attempts to minimize stress.

• Do not use an open weave net with large holes in the mesh. Birds can easily become tangled in these nets, causing injury or even death.

• If the bird is injured, call your local animal control. They can refer you to a local wildlife rehabilitator for treatment.

References

• "National Animal Control Association Training Manual"; National Animal Control Association; 1995
• All About Birds: Window Collisions
• Birds of Southeast Texas in Photos; How to Get a Bird Out of Your House; Feb 2007

Resources

• Apartment Therapy; How to Coax a Wild Animal Out of the House; Jeanine Brennan; July 2010