Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Yes, actually, it's a bird.

It's a bird in a grocery store. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.... Is that supposed to be here?

I'm not talking a turkey or a chicken here. It's not a dead bird. It's a little, live, and very quiet sparrow. I think it's infiltrating our supply of crumbs. Not content to just pick up crumbs from outside eating areas, it has sussed out where humans go to eat when it's raining cats and dogs outside, and has made it's way into crumb heaven! That's a smart little bird with a strong survival instinct!

I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been sitting drinking coffee in the little coffee alcove. It was just a flash of something dark that I saw a couple of times, and then I looked closer. It was very silent! Not a peep, and it's wings are so tiny they don't make a lot of noise. You really have to look to find him.

So do I tell any of the humans at the grocery store? Hmm again.

OK, so bird poop on the groceries would be a bad thing... but you should look closely at the packages on what you buy as a routine step in the purchasing process, and any fruits and vegetables that don't come in a package should always be washed before you eat them anyway. It's just good hygiene, and if you don't do it already you may have built up an immunity to all the junk you have ingested. So I can't imagine anyone getting sick from the little bird.

And you have to admire the survival instinct of the bird. It managed to get inside. It knows enough to be quiet and it's staying mostly hidden, it's not hopping up on tables begging for crumbs the way they do outside. And it is not in the bulk area sitting on a pile of stuff and gorging itself... at least not while the store is occupied by humans. And the ceilings are very high, so it could easily fly out of reach of any humans and hide.

And how would a human manage to get a bird out of the store? I can't see anyone having the patients to lure it out. It may drive them insane. Would they have to resort to violence to get rid of the bird? I don't want to be part of that, it sounds painful for both human and bird.

So the little flutter you thought you heard could have been a bird... don't worry about it, it's not the end of the world, it's just the little animals getting smarter.