When Chen Chien-sheng, owner of the Shun Fa automobile repair workshop in Putzu City of Chiayi County lifted up the engine hood of his client Wu Yi-sheng’s Mazda to carry out maintenance, Chen was surprised to see a sparrow’s nest with nine eggs hidden inside the car’s air filter.
Chen said that he has seen many strange things in his more than 20 years in car maintenance including a woman’s singlet in an air conditioning vent as well as rat nests and cockroach nests. However, this was the first time he had come across a bird’s nest. Judging from the amount of grass and branches in the nest, it had probably been in the car for longer than three months.
The car’s owner, Wu, was not surprised when he found out because a sparrow’s nest had been found in the car six months earlier when his car was undergoing maintenance at another garage.
Chen said that the sparrow flew into the air filter through the car’s L-shaped grills. Because Wu parked his car in the same place all the time and did not drive his car that much, it was easier for the sparrow to fly through the car’s air grills into the air filter plate and set up a nest with grass and twigs. However, when the vigilant sparrow got a sense that the car was about to start up, it flew away, escaping the high heat of the engine but leaving all the eggs behind to be scrambled.
Chen said the sparrow’s nest in the car’s engine would not affect driving safety, but that because fuel injection engines use wind to control the amount of petrol used, once the air filter plate was filled by the sparrow’s nest, petrol consumption increased by about 20 percent.
While Wu did not mind sharing his car with the sparrow, when he heard that the sparrow would cause him to consume more petrol, he decided to get Chen to install a block in the air grills and say goodbye to the sparrow. (LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON)
嘉義縣朴子市順發汽車修護廠老闆陳健生，日前幫客戶吳益盛維修馬自達自小客車，掀開引擎蓋時嚇一跳，因為在長二十四、寬十四、高八公分的空氣濾清器內，竟然有個麻雀鳥巢，裡面還有九顆鳥蛋。
陳健生表示，從事汽車修護二十多年，看到許多稀奇古怪的事，包括在冷氣孔找到一件「小可愛」，從上面的齒痕狀，研判是老鼠的傑件；另外也曾發現老鼠窩、蟑螂窩，鳥巢則是第一次看到，而且從巢內的草、枝量推算，築巢應該超過三個月。
車主吳益盛對此並不意外，因為這部車半年前在別家廠保養時，也清出一個麻雀鳥巢。
陳健生指出，麻雀是從長約四十五公分的L型進氣管飛進空氣濾清器座，由於吳益盛停車位固定，且不常用車，讓麻雀可以好整以暇叼草築巢，不過機警的麻雀一感覺車子發動就飛離，才沒有被引擎室高溫烤熟，但鳥蛋就遭殃，每顆都被烤成「空包蛋」。
陳健生說，鳥在引擎室築巢，不至於影響行車安全，卻比較耗油，因噴射引擎靠吸多少風來控制油量，空氣濾清器座被鳥巢盤據後，油耗就多出兩成左右。
吳益盛雖然不在意跟麻雀分享愛車，但聽到耗油後，決定請陳健生在進風口裝上阻隔器，跟麻雀說再見。
（自由時報記者蔡宗勳）
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