From Within

Sometime last week, I was reheating leftovers when I heard a pretty loud thump against the window.  Even with the reflectors on the window, I knew a bird flew right into it.  I immediately put on my shoes and ran out to search under all the overgrown catmint, wild strawberry plants and creeping charlie.  Finally I found this little guy:

What I am assuming is a baby White-breasted Nuthatch, appeared to be pretty stunned.  He (or she), kept closing its eyes  and there were moments when I thought he was not going to make it.  Every time that happened I made sure to pet him more on the head and talk to him.

 Once he was able to have his foot up under him, I attempted to introduce him to our pine tree, in the hopes that he would cling on the bark on his own.  As soon as I neared the tree, a pair of House Wrens swooped down and chattered disapprovingly at our presence.  I realized later that they had a clutch of babies in our sap bucket birdhouse that they were steering us from, much to our delight.  Needless to say the "fake nest" we thought they had made was the real thing. 

 To placate the wrens, I took the nuthatch to the neighboring maple tree.  He was still a little out of it.  Every now and then he would open his eyes and wrestle in my hand to be freed, but he was definitely still unstable and unable to grasp the bark of the tree.

 His grip was pretty good with his right foot, but the left was delayed.  He would eye me quietly, almost seeming to appreciate the bodyguard I became, since during this ordeal I had witnessed some type of raptor fly overhead a couple of times.  We would stare at each other and I would tell him he would be ok.

 At one point, while attempting to get him onto the tree, he fluttered onto my shoulder and seemed a little reluctant to leave.

I was finally able to get him to grab onto the tree.  I tried to grab a hold of him a few times, and he would fight a little and climb higher... I wanted to see if he was alright, alone, up in that tree.  I watched him for a good bit, forgetting all about my food in the oven, worried only for this little feathered friend.  I watched him climb a little higher and respond more to outside stimuli, so I let him be.  I hope he is well and that he visits our tree and feeders as he gets older.
Standing out there for an undetermined amount of time, it dawned upon me how connected I feel to animals and nature, and how much of an introvert I am.  Many times I feel like I am the black sheep of the human race, able to communicate more with other animal species than my own.  What does this mean for me?  Many times I am disgusted at what humanity has done to the Earth, let alone to each other, and I wonder, is it better to be that black sheep?  It is almost as if I feel confined when among people, but free and open to everything when I am out in nature.  Grounded, is what I feel, like the deep roots of the oldest trees.  Why change?