Duck down

One unlucky duck got a second chance at life after falling down a chimney, navigating a cross pipe and wiggling its way into my wood stove last weekend. Looking for the source of an unusual scrabbling sound emanating from the stove, we spotted a pair of beady black eyes shining from a narrow tapered face.

After deducing with some relief that our unexpected visitor was not sporting claws and teeth, we extricated the juvenile common merganser and transported it across the street to a small lake, where the feisty flapper zoomed straight for the water and began dipping, sipping and paddling vigorously about.

Common mergansers are diving ducks, which typically nest in tree cavities and nest boxes. They may also choose a rock crevice, a hole in the ground or a chimney, which could explain how it ended up in my stove. Time to get a chimney cap installed!