diff --git a/check_bird2_oneshot b/check_bird2_oneshot
index 105f1e6..737d433 100755
--- a/check_bird2_oneshot
+++ b/check_bird2_oneshot
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ DIR="$(mktemp -d '/tmp/nrpe-bird.XXXX')"
 # The sed removes the first two lines (BIRD 2.0.2 ready and Name Proto blah)
 birdc 'show protocols all' 2>${DIR}/bird-err | sed '1,2d;$d' | \
 	awk -v RS= -v DIR=$DIR '{print > (DIR "/" $1 ".txt")}'
-if [ $? != 0 ]; then
+if [ $(cat ${DIR}/bird-err) != '' ]; then
 	printf "ERROR: $(cat ${DIR}/bird-err)\n"
 	rm -r ${DIR}
 	exit 2