A bird (possibly a sparrow) somehow got into my house, and cannot get out (I think it wants to get out). It flies in circles near the ceiling, like some moths sometimes do.
I turned off the lights and opened the window, but my window doesn't go all the way to the ceiling, and the bird won't seem to find the exit. It's currently night outside.
What to do?
I have never had to do it but my mother used to do it like this:
As it should be pitch dark you will need a weak light to help you to see, like the screen of a phone, not the light on the back. Or as suggested in the comments, use a red light, some torches have the option and you might be able to get a mostly red screen on your phone if you search for one.
If it is dark outside, keep the bird in that box till daylight, so it can see where to fly when you release it.
I took a large wooden board and started waving at it, to make it fly in a more chaotic manner. After several minutes, it finally found the window!
I think it started to get tired, so it started landing on various objects for a few seconds. Maybe this actually made it find the exit.
Anyway, I'd be happy to know what to do next time this happens.
Having dealt with this a time or two, the best plan of action in my opinion is as follows.
Attach a blanket or large towel to two brooms, mops or anything with a long handle. You can use binder clips, hair clips or anything else as long is it secures it well.
I have attached a rudimentary drawing for further explanation.
Now that you have your net device, there are two options. If the bird or bat is flying in a predictable circle, you can stand beneath it and thrust the net device upward in front of it.
Or you can stand at one end of the room, with the net extended upwards and slowly walk toward the creature.
When the flying creature hits the towel or blanket, bring your arms together in front of you catching the bird or bat in the net. Quickly transport it outside and open the net up to set it free. Mission accomplished.
This is an effective safe way of handling the situation and the least likely to cause injury to the animal or yourself. Especially with bats that could bite etc.
For a few years I lived in a house that had two screened porches with open doorways. Small birds, about the size of sparrows, would find themselves "trapped" in them several times a year. They would become trapped because they would ignore the open doorway they came in from, and try to fly out another opening that was covered by screen.
Usually I would discover a trapped bird after it had been flying in circles in a panic for a while, close to exhaustion, hardly able to fly. I think a small bird can exhaust itself in less than an hour if it tries to fly as much as possible. I would just gently try and trap the landed bird in a corner with my body, and then gently grab it with my hand. If the bird had the energy to keep flying, then I would wait another ten or fifteen minutes and try again. Eventually I was always able to catch the bird that way, or it would finally discover the open doorway. I tried waving large flat objects with the idea of diverting them to the open doorway, but that just made the birds panic more.
Once I had the bird in hand, I would walk out the open doorway, and then toss the bird up into the air. The bird then always found the energy to fly to a nearby tree branch and rest.
