Incontrovertible proof...

Incontrovertible proof...

I think I have it figured out.

Which isn't the same thing as 'incontrovertible', but somehow that word has been bouncing around my head this morning and I had to use it.

Yesterday morning I crawled back up in the attic again. And then again. And I got out on the roof and scaled to the top of the dormer to inspect a place where the siding had pulled away from the house. And I looked carefully at the entire soffit, overhang and eves area on the south and east side of my house. It all came back to 'How are they getting in?'

It all kept coming back to this roof vent (for an exhaust vent from the kitchen). It is in exactly the right place below the roof of my closet, and there is no other evidence in the attic or anywhere else of where they could get in.

The thing that threw me was that, although you can't see it from the angle of this picture, this vent has a screen in place to block bird and bat entry.

But when I got up close, I found a screw in the bottom of it and I took as much of it apart as I could. The screen pops right out, and when I looked closely at it I saw little brown hairs stuck to it! I took this photo against the white of the broom so you can see them. There is just a little bit of a gap around either side of the screen, and it is evidently enough that they can squeeze by. And when I reached up into the vent, I could feel a slot where they could bypass the ductwork and squeeze into the rafter. Evidently the space above it is not insulated and they can get in to it.

So I think I have the spot they're getting in. It will be easy enough to exclude once the danger to blocking in any babies that can't fly yet is past. In the meantime I'm closing my closet door at night and nobody has been back for a visit.

Time will tell.