What Makes You Alive?

I just had to use this title and include this video from our favorite singer, May Erlewine.  If you live in Michigan and HAVE NOT seen May Erlewine and Seth Bernard live, do it!  Don't  miss Joshua Davis either!

Today I was working around the house and exercising, getting ready for my backpacking trip coming up in two weeks and I couldn't shake an experience Nathan and I were able to have a few weeks ago.

I contacted Kalamazoo Nature Center to find out more about their bird banding.  I was hoping that we could get Nathan some experience with bird banding.  The people in charge said that they normally don't have teenagers come to volunteer, but we could try it out and if he does well, we could come back.

It's a husband and wife team that do the bulk of the banding and the wife has gone on to get more credentials so that she can band hummingbirds.  This part of the banding is a one-woman operation.  She nets, collects, and measures the hummingbirds all by herself.  She even has to make the hummingbird leg bands.  They are so tiny.  At one point I asked if I could feel the heart-beat of the hummer she was about to release.  She obliged.  It was amazing.  It wasn't so much as a recognizable heart-beat as it was a vibration.

Then the real miracle happened.  She asked if we'd like to hear the heart-beat.  She took that tiny bird in her hand and held it up to my ear.  I instantly heard that humming sound and felt the warmth of the little creature.  It was almost too much for me.  I pulled away before she pulled the bird away!  It was the embodiment of life.  Check out this photo to see what they look like in someone's hand.

It's no wonder that I have grown to love birds.  I love to watch their "life."  It is life itself that makes me feel alive.  How about you?