To Catch a Hummingbird

If you don't have a toddler in your house, you might not realize how much they dawdle.  Put two toddlers in your house and you will have double dawdling.  And so it was the other morning when the twins and I were walking up the driveway after getting Pierce onto the bus.  Cort came right inside, but Reid persisted in trying to amass a large rock collection out of the oh-so-interesting gravel that makes up our driveway.  I was standing, front door open, calling him inside, when I heard a buzz that went straight by my head.  I assumed I had let in a bumblebee, and knew I'd have to take care of it in a minute.  But as I continued to call for the epic-slow Reid, the buzzing persisted - loudly.  That is one HUGE bee I thought.  Finally, I stopped in my calling and turned to the side to look, and there I saw a little hummingbird frantically trying to get out through the windows and sliding glass doors.  I knew this little guy would be a challenge to catch.

Once I got Reid in the house (finally, and sans massive gravel rock collection), I got the boys' butterfly net.  The hummingbird was busy flying over and over again into our sliding glass doors.  It turned out he wasn't hard to net at all.  I guess I got lucky.

The twins were thrilled there was a bird in the house.  I promptly took him out of the net and carried him outside, his little chirps resonating in my ears.  Poor little thing was so scared.  I quickly snapped a couple of pictures before setting him free.

Holding such a tiny being in my hands - even just for a few seconds - was not something I ever expected to happen in my lifetime, but it is something I will always remember.  Such a fragile creature, with the needle thin beak and his beautiful green shimmery feathers.  Someone on Twitter said that holding a hummingbird is almost like petting the mythical unicorn.  And indeed, it was a magical moment of wonder.

I'm going to keep my eye out for unicorns from now on, just in case.