On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:31:06 +0000, Marina wrote:
The day it didn't rain but we ended up with a duck at the bottom of the
chimney was the day I decided it needed to be capped.

Another year our gas furnace was not working. That was when we first
bought the house and we didn't know too much. We called the furnace guy
and he found a lifeless bird. He placed the bird in a basket and I took it
outside, to be disposed of later. When the guy left he said the bird was
gone from the basket. It was only outside for 10 to 15 minutes. He
speculated the bird "came to" and flew away.

Interesting. With our duck, it was definitely alive when I first found it.
By the time I'd grabbed some gloves so I could grab it without getting
covered in soot, it gave all signs of being dead. I put it in the woods
and it was gone a half hour later - I'd always figured it got picked up by
some woodland critter (lots of 'em up here, and bears not unheard of) but
maybe it really was just playing dead...

I'm not sure how you check a duck's pulse