diff --git a/check_bird2_oneshot b/check_bird2_oneshot
index f303e39..105f1e6 100755
--- a/check_bird2_oneshot
+++ b/check_bird2_oneshot
@@ -92,8 +92,13 @@ DIR="$(mktemp -d '/tmp/nrpe-bird.XXXX')"
 #	${DIR}/bgp_protocols_up.txt
 
 # The sed removes the first two lines (BIRD 2.0.2 ready and Name Proto blah)
-birdc 'show protocols all' | sed '1,2d;$d' | \
+birdc 'show protocols all' 2>${DIR}/bird-err | sed '1,2d;$d' | \
 	awk -v RS= -v DIR=$DIR '{print > (DIR "/" $1 ".txt")}'
+if [ $? != 0 ]; then
+	printf "ERROR: $(cat ${DIR}/bird-err)\n"
+	rm -r ${DIR}
+	exit 2
+fi
 
 for protocol in $(cat ${CONF_IGNORE_FILE}); do
 	rm "${DIR}/${protocol}.txt"