Saturday was a bone chilling day. Windy with temperatures in the single digits, which meant it actually felt colder than it read. Whatever heat the lake was holding onto, evaporated into the crisp air. As I sat there gaming my brains out on Batman: Arkham City, I heard a thud come from the vicinity of the picture window. With it being a sunny and crisp day, the chances of birds hitting the window are higher than normal, so I ran to the window to make sure there weren't any casualties. Scanning the snow covered ground, I spot a little sparrow on it's back, shaking it's head free from the snow. I quickly grab the first boots I see, which are my girlfriend's hefty Sorel snow boots, and I stumble out in my sweat pants and t-shirt to perform a search and rescue. I pick up the stunned bird in my hands, shielding it from the wind, and check to see if it is still alive. Eyes, slowly blinking and gaining focus, start to look around, but the sparrow is still on it's side, immobilized by it's accident. I pet it's feathers and brush off the snow from it's beak while it's eyes continue to focus. Standing out there, wind at my back, I realize how cold it really is out here and I start to blow warm air on the bird. Fingers tingling from the cold, I brush the last few noticeable snowflakes from it's wings before blowing more warm air on it's body. Sitting the bird up in my palms, I notice it try to grasp hold of my finger with it's left foot. The right foot still is not getting the messages from it's brain yet to do the same. I start to walk towards the sliding glass door, and am quickly reminded of our 3 cats and 2 dogs, who would love to have a little poultry snack, and instead walked towards the lilac bush. The warm air I supplied, appeared to awaken my little feathered friend, causing it's eyes to regain focus and awareness of it's surroundings. It's right leg received the delayed messages and began to grasp my fingers. Once it was able to hold on with a good grip, I gently encouraged it into the lilac bush, and I watched it until it fluttered to the higher branches, but not before I ran in to get my camera and take a picture of it before it was gone for good.
Standing out there in the arctic-like elements, I am at awe at how these little feathered beings survive with what their bodies provide them. They must eat and keep moving to survive this type of cold, but how well would someone of my species handle the cold with just what our bodies supply us with? Just the short amount of time I was outside, my fingers were starting to hurt from the cold and my face and ears felt like they were going to slide off my skull. The heartiness and the natural survival abilities of the non-human animal kingdom amaze me. There is so much we don't know about them, what they feel, what they think, because deep in the recesses of our minds, we all know they do - and maybe we can all learn from them.
Beautiful, my love!
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