Bird in the Chimney!

In the last little while Duane and I have noticed noise coming from our chimney...sounds of wings beating and scratching. We figured there was a poor bird who had entered for protection from the wet weather, or just for the heck of it...considering it hasn't been bad weather until today! I decided that during my break this morning I'd try to release and catch the little guy so he didn't perish (like a couple of his little buddies who fell from the chimney as I opened the flue). I have a feeling that as soon as I let him outside after catching him, he probably had a heart attack from the rush of cold air and rain beating down on him! Hopefully not, but who knows.
The process to catch this sparrow was quite the thing. I slowly opened the flue, and the bird dropped into the fireplace opening. I figured, "ok, just take a rolled up magazine and coax him into the open cereal box." Couldn't be too hard, right? Wrong. It was NOT the easiest thing to do..especially having to work around sooty wood, coals, and two dead birds! Since the poor thing was just let out of a dark, box-like place, he REALLY didn't want to be coaxed into another one! He surprised me and flew out of a section of the fireplace I hadn't blocked off very well, and took off around our living room like a maniac, spraying soot from his wings. I should look for a soot mark on our front window. He hit it a few times. He "hid" in the blinds, hid under the TV stand, the chair in the corner, the big couch, in the shoe rack, the winter-wear basket on the shelf at the front door, and flew into the door a few times. Gosh that thing was quick! And trying to get a box over it was quite a challenge at some points. At this point, time was getting tight as I needed to get to my last shift at Cardinal before the driver left without me! I couldn't phone her, because if I left the room the bird would hide somewhere and then I wouldn't be able to find it. What a mess! I finally caught the bird with minutes to spare...well, not really...I was already late...but I drove like a crazy person to get to the bus yard before I was left behind.
The living room looks like someone trashed it...so I had better clean it up!
Here's a photo of the little guy.
~K~