Bats Befoul St. Bavo's Organ

[Coenraads]

According to NOS, the Dutch news service, dwarf bats have taken up residence in the ceiling above the organ in the St. Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The magnificent and extravagant Muller organ built in 1738 was played by both Handel and Mozart. The bats' droppings are damaging the organ and the bats' urine especially is corroding the pipe work. The organist also reports jumping every time a bat swoops by. Dwarf bats are protected in Holland so by using recorded nesting calls, the bats are being lured to another corner of church, away from the sunny and warm south corner where the organ resides.
From the shield above the organ, we can see, as is often the case in Holland, that the city owns the organ, not the church. In response they have put aside hundreds of thousands of Euros to clean the organ and repair the damage,
On an organ tour, I had the privilege of playing this organ for my allotted three minutes: definitely a great thrill.
The famous facade with its 32 foot pedal towers was pronounced by John Bishop to be the most beautiful in the world, and I agree.

I'm sure we all have dead birds in the pipes stories. You are invited to share them.
John

[voet]

There was a bat in residence in a church that I used to serve. I too would jump when it flew around, which mostly occurred at night. After I stopped seeing the bat, I assumed it hat managed to leave the building. However, upon investigating a trumpet pipe that stopped sounding, there was a dead bat in the resonator.

[jbird604]

Not quite as funny, but just as destructive -- a few years ago we were called to investigate an Allen organ that had gone completely silent. It was a good-sized church and there were two large speaker chambers flanking the chancel, both accessible by raising a hinged grilled. Each chamber held three or four large Allen tone cabinets. Upon climbing a ladder and looking inside, I was amazed to see NO CONES in the speakers. All the drivers -- 15", 12" and 3" paper cones -- were stripped of their paper, leaving only the metal frames mounted in the sturdy wooden cabinets. The carcass of a squirrel was found in the small passageway that led from one chamber to the other. He or she apparently came in through some obscure opening from the attic, survived as long as possible by eating the paper cones, then perhaps succumbed to the lack of water when he/she was unable to find the way back out of the chamber.

[myorgan]

Decades ago at the local University, my wife and I were examining a Hook & Hastings (maybe just Hook) on a rolling platform. I noticed something protruding from the mouth of the center pipe. After I removed the pipe, my wife took it outside to empty-a dead bird! I wonder how it got into a closed building like that?

Michael

[Philip Powell]

The very first Mass I was in charge of as organist and music director, I went down to the sacristy to talk with my pastor to make sure we were on the same page (i.e. who's intoning the Gloria, Credo, and such). When I opened the door to the sacristy, I found my pastor running around the huge room chasing a bird with a broom. He was yelling; threatening the bird, "Oh, if I rip this alb..."
He eventually was able to force it outside but something tells me he was going for the kill.