18 November 05

So Frail a Thing

I heard a scream from my office this morning. A bird had flown into our building. It’s been unseasonably warm and we work with the doors open despite the flies…

I don’t know why some people scream when there is a bird indoors: I think more people have bird phobias than you’d imagine. The screamer was hiding under the desk.

I moved over to the window and easily caught the yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon’s) in my hands; took it out; released it. It flew up in to the pine, scolding loudly.

My hands throbbed, remembering that frenzied frail heartbeat.

Posted by at 08:20 PM in Nature and Place | Link |
  1. Good catch! And isn’t it odd how holding a wild bird feels like such a privilege?

    A friend told me it’s an Irish superstition (though I hadn’t heard it from my family) that a bird coming into the house presages a death in the household. FWIW.
    — Ron Sullivan    19. November 2005, 22:29    Link
  2. Wow, I didn’t realize it was that easy to catch a bird in one’s hands! What a wonderful thing.

    I’ve only caught and released various bugs – moths, spiders – trapped with a cup and a piece of paper and then escorted out.
    — leslee    20. November 2005, 06:31    Link
  3. Ron: I hadn’t heard that superstition, but it’s definitely a Maori belief that when a bird dies, a person will, too. Six years ago my sister took her African gray parrot to the vet, dying, left him there, and got on a plane to come west, where my father was dying too. That made me sit up and pay attention…
    — Pica    20. November 2005, 06:48    Link
  4. I spent yesterday morning birding with Dave, a wonderful way to clear my head before it was time to finally admit that I had to grade student papers. While wandering along Putah Creek, I shared your breathtaking image of hands “throbbing with the frenzied, frail heartbeat” and we enjoyed your scolding warbler. I too have experienced in my hands the afterglow of holding a wildbird and feeling its heartbeat, but have never described it so beautifully. So beautiful.
    — virginia    20. November 2005, 18:26    Link

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