Well this one is much more common than most people would believe but it is true and it does happen with regularity. Normally the bird is long dead before the service technician gets to your home but in this case the bird was heard and safely released to find a better place to roost.

The issue usually starts with an old or broken flue cap assembly, normally it is very difficult for a bird to get into the gas furnace flue but it happens all the time and most often it is not noticed until late in the fall when it is time to start up the heat. At that point yes, you usually have a petrified bird in your flue. The birds will always fall all the way into the inducer motor and can be removed by removing the flue pipe at the furnace inducer motor.