Gutter Crypt

[RonB]

Time to check our gutters folks.....

A couple of years ago I put gutter cages at the top of all of my downspouts.... or I thought I did.

This past week we started hearing noises from our gutter but we have birds perching on them all the time so I wasn't concerned. A couple of days ago I pulled out the ladder to see if there was any debris, especially near the ends.

Nope. Pretty clean.

An hour or so ago my wife walked out and noticed a real ruckus coming from one of the downspouts. When she walked over to it she realized it was coming from the area above an elbow about 3' above the bottom. I pulled the spout apart at the elbow and out came a bird. I was felling good about the rescue when I realized there was still noise coming from the pipe. Dug some nest material out and here came two more birds; and then two bodies. Still more digging and two more came flying out - seven total. The pipe was packed so solid that a garden hose just backed water up into the pipe. Finally got it all cleaned out and reassembled.

I guess I missed one with the cages.

RonB

[Dottie]

We don't have anything covering our gutters -- and have to clean them frequently because our neighbor's giant oak trees shed leaves most of the time. We cleaned them out a few weeks ago and yesterday we had to do it again. My son climbed the ladder and put the hose down far enough so the water would push the leaves out....nothing came out .... then suddenly I looked down at where the downspout meets the ground and saw what looked like a clump of leaves. I reached down to dig it out -- and it suddenly jumped out. It was a frog.Scared me! Soon as the frog jumped out the water started coming through like it should. Don't know if the frog had been stuck in there or what ....

[RonB]

On May 3, 4:21=A0pm, RonB wrote: Update.

After removing 5 live blackbrids and two bodies from a bend in my downspout yesterday I felt like a rescuer and undertaker. I also put anther downspout cage on my list for the next trip to a larger neighboring town.

This morning I walked out on the deck and heard similar sounds. I tapped on the downspout at the crook about 3' from the bottom and heard fluttering inside. got my socket set, pulled the elbow apart and out came a bird. Behind him was more weeds and grass from the new nest being built. Pulled on the nest material and out came bird #2, then #3. That totals 10 birds in less than 24 hours.

Went ahead and drove to Ace down the road and got the $#@&% cage.

RonB