Need help catching a bird outside

[JBanks29]

A yellow collared lovebird has been coming to our outside bird feeder in our backyard for about a week now. Any suggestions on how we might catch him without hurting him? We live in NJ. He seems to be enjoying his freedom outside, but there's no way he would survive the winter.

Thanks,
John

[Rue]

It's not easy to catch escaped birds. But find a cage (used will do, just clean it first if it's suspect) and set it out by the feeder with food in it.

If the bird has had enough of the wilds, odds are he might just hop in the cage and start eating.

A bowl of seed, or millet sprays are very tempting.

Does he tolerate your presence? Or does he fly off as soon as he sees you?

[JBanks29]

He doesn't fly away as soon as he sees us, but does if we approach to close. We borrowed a cage from our neighbor yesterday, and have it out next to the feeder now with some seed in it.

[Rue]

He's very cute!

I wonder if you emptied the bird feeder (but leave it hanging) - he would be more tempted to check out the cage?

[Giantmoa]

lol, I wonder if he would go inside the cage if the feeder was in it? My tiel escaped once and was living in a park a couple days. She flew down to us again when she was good and hungry (I could literally feel that she was lighter, very scary). Good luck catching him, but be careful not to accidently scare him away =)

[JBanks29]

We might try emptying the feeder, but a lot of other birds would go hungry. The feeder doesn't fit through the cage door. We tried adding a few additional snacks in the cage to entice him.

Thanks,
John

[Rue]

The feeder might not fit through the cage door...but the bottom should come off...then you could place the feeder in it.

Don't worry about the wild birds going hungry. It's summer and there's lots of food. A couple of days (hopefully) won't matter...

[JBanks29]

Yes, we could insert the feeder through the bottom by temporarily separating the cage from the bottom, but how would we remove the feeder if we captured the bird in the cage with the feeder?

[Nathaniel]

Buy a net gun. ( http://www.net-gun.com/ )

[Rue]

Yes, we could insert the feeder through the bottom by temporarily separating the cage from the bottom, but how would we remove the feeder if we captured the bird in the cage with the feeder?

No problem! Take the cage to the bathroom (er, put down the toilet seat, just in case). Unhook the bottom...and gently try to grab the bird (wear a light glove if you'd like, lovebirds can bite hard, but not that hard)...remove the feeder...place the cage back on top and put bird back in...lock the bottom.

You should be able to that by yourself. If the bird escapes, that's okay too - you're in a small, secure space. Remove the feeder, lock the bottom...and then catch the bird.

Sounds scary, but it's not that bad.

Oh yeah...in the bathroom, any 'oopsies' are very easy to wipe up...