There was a scratching and scraping coming from the inside of the chimney of the wood stove occasionally used to heat our lounge room this afternoon. First thought was a possum but the gap at the roof end of the chimney and the covering cap was too small even for a possum. And then I recalled seeing a crimson rosella male examining the chimney this morning. It, or its mate, had clearly fallen down the chimney. As we continued to listen to its scratchings, it fell lower in the chimney until it was almost on top of the stove. My wife thoughtfully opened the sliding door next to the stove which leads out into the garden as the prospect of a soot covered, probably aggrieved, rosella loose in a predominantly white lounge room did not appeal. I managed to loosen one of the fire bricks lining at the top of the firebox and a female crimson rosella dropped onto my hand for a nanosecond and then shot out the open door into the garden, disappearing over several fences before we lost sight of her.
Dennis Ayliffe
0400168825
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