So, we had a rather exciting afternoon.
We often have our front door open on the casita. The little house tends to get dark and keeping the door open brightens it up. Obviously, we close and lock it at night or when we’re away.
I was sitting at my computer this afternoon with my back to the door, which was open. Pete was down at the driveway power washing years of sludge off the driveway. Suddenly, I hear a noise. I wasn’t sure what it was or where it was coming from…. But not a normal inside the house noise. I get up and start to turn around and I realize we have a bird in the house.
A little side story…. We have these giant birds that we call the “bloods” (as in LA gangs) because they always travel in groups of 7-8. They are big, gangly bird and are actually called a chachalaca (which is fun to say). They are about the size of a small, north American pheasant. They take about an entire runway to lift off the ground and they are very loud and tend to talk in groups. Often, their vocals will alert you to someone approaching. If you want to hear this ruckus, watch this video: Sounds of the forest: Gray-headed Chachalaca in Panama
And now back to my story. One of these giant birds was in our casita. Pete had been looking at the Casita when he saw one crash into the outer open door and fly away and he thought he saw one enter the house. (The rest of the gang was outside squawking). Anyhow… he comes running in asking if a bird flew into the house. Meanwhile… I’m having a holy shit moment as this giant bird is crashing around, panicked and unable to find its way out. We grabbed 2 brooms, and we must have chased it around inside the house for about 10 minutes, although it seemed an eternity. It was yelling, the rest of the flock was yelling from outside and I was screaming as it would take flight and try to get away from us. It wouldn’t go to the door but kept trying to get out by the window…. So we finally opened the window up and were able to get it to a place where it flew out.
I spent the next 2 hours cleaning up the mess it made…bird poop and bits of grass everywhere. The house got a good cleaning.
Moral of the story…. The outside door will need to be closed in the future.
Update: NO, I don’t have a video of this!