I held a tiny miracle in my hand
today. I was visiting with a client on my cell phone, having a long
distance life coaching session. Needee McGreedy, my ever present
plus-size cat, was sitting next to me on the wooden bench on my front
porch. It was a cool, overcast day, and the first touch of autumn was
in the air. I was relishing the last gasp of my outside plants and
flowers before the inevitable frost, and watching various birds at my
bird feeders, colorful butterflies and jeweled dragonflies flitting
around my yard, and hummingbirds battling for the best position at
their feeder.
Suddenly, two hummingbirds flew
straight for my face, then dipped down under my bench at the last
second. One zipped away, but the other went missing. Needee jumped
down, landing lightly despite her phat cat self, grabbed something
with her ridiculously dainty paws, then put it in her mouth. I told
my client, “Oh my gosh, I think Needee actually caught a
hummingbird!”
Ya gotta understand, Needee is the
worst cat huntress ever. She has trouble catching dead spiders, much
less bagging a supersonic hummingbird. I chased her into the kitchen,
and she was trying to growl with her precious prey in her mouth, and
the prey was vibrating, and I said, “Needee, DROP IT!” So she
did, bless her heart. Like I said, not the greatest hunter ever. Cat Rule #1: Do not open mouth when filled with prey.
I carefully picked up a glowing,
iridescent emerald green hummingbird* with a black and white speckled
chest and tail. It lay still in my palm, but its heart was beating so
fast, my whole hand was vibrating. I was sharing the play by play
commentary with my client, and she was as astounded as I was.
“Really? You're holding it IN YOUR HAND? What does it look like? That
is SO COOL!”
I went back outside to the bench,
and sat down, cupping the bird in both hands, and asked my client to
pray with me for this beautiful little bird. My hands vibrated
intensely, the vibration going up my arms and making me light headed.
After a moment, I opened my hands, and the bird shifted slightly,
from laying on its side to its belly. As I watched in wonder, it
seemed to take a breath, get its bearings, and then it zoomed away
into the pine tree.
I was dumbfounded! We high fived
each other through the phone, screaming, “That was AMAZING!!!” I
told her I was so glad I could share that experience with her. She
said, “You know something kinda weird? I'm looking at my birdbath
here, and there's, like, six or seven robins there. I've never seen
them up here in Northern Wisconsin this late in the year.”
I've said before and I'll say it
again: God is SUCH a showoff!”
* After some in-depth online research,
apparently I held in my hand a young male ruby throated hummingbird.
They don't get the ruby throat until they reach maturity. It's like a
man getting a beard. Ironically, the older females may occasionally
have a red feather or two on their throat. That's why I keep several
pairs of tweezers handy at all times. For my "chin feathers.”
