Bird under the kitchen sink - how did it get there?

NP09

Birds can get through surprisingly small holes...

Alnat1

We had a great tit nest in the cavity wall this year. They got in through a tiny hole where the toilet waste pipe comes out. Your could hear the babies peep peep peeping while you sat lol. They must have got used to the water flushing right by their nest.

Plasticman

You might have a hole from an old pipe or similar behind the sink on the inside skin of the cavity. We did. We also had a gap around the water pipe where it came up through the floor. Not likely to get a bird in that way but one of the holes provided a nice route through for a rat 

Wyndham

Slumbershade said:

I mean, most likely explanation is a family member found it in the house somewhere and put in the cupboard as a joke/mystery/wind-up.

Given how absolutely terrified the bird obviously was, then I'm very glad to say that I don't live with anyone who would think it funny to do that to another living thing.

Your household is obviously rather different

Wyndham

Slumbershade said:

Wyndham said:

Slumbershade said:

I mean, most likely explanation is a family member found it in the house somewhere and put in the cupboard as a joke/mystery/wind-up.

Given how absolutely terrified the bird obviously was, then I'm very glad to say that I don't live with anyone who would think it funny to do that to another living thing.

Your household is obviously rather different

Im not trying to be rude lol, just saying if no holes found, what the most likely explanation is. Maybe a mean kitty thinks the bird will be more tender  to eat after a good frightening.

OK, so let me see if I have this right....

The cat found the bird, and then carefully removed the plinth under the sink/cupboards, somehow persuaded the terrified bird to calmly walk into the gap, then carefully replaced the plinth?

Several things wrong with this, including the fact that we don't have a cat....!

JohnB47

I'm going for the answer already suggested. The bird somehow got into the wall cavity - the gap between the inner and outer layer if bricks. This could have happened via a hole in the eves or a hole that may have let them get into the loft space, then into the cavity from the top. It made its way downwards and found a way out of the cavity and then moved about in the plinth area until you heard it and got it out.

Bear in mind that the hole it used to get out of the cavity could be anywhere behind the kitchen floor units, not just at the plinth level. There's often quite a gap between the back of the kitchen floor units and the wall.

Was it a young bird? Perhaps you have a nest in the loft.

JohnB47

Another possibility is that the bird came into your kitchen when you had the back door (or kitchen window) open and the door under your sink open. It dived into that cupboard (somewhere dark to hide) and in through the open part at the back - often left open to allow access to pipework. It then fluttered down to the plinth area.

Alnat1

John, I thought you were a sensible person, then you made that 2nd post lol

Wyndham

Thanks all.

It wasn't a young bird. I think the "eaves then down the wall" theory is the most likely - and it may have got in through a ventilation pipe, but it's far from clear. I'm going to put it down to one of those things we will never know the answer to!