The twists and turns of earth’s only flying mammal never ceases to amaze me. I could watch for hours on end as they gobble up dusk’s 6 legged creatures before they head to another foraging friendly clearing and then finally to their roost in a tree hollow, under a bridge, or bat house :). One of our neighborhood bats seems to sneak out out earlier than the others. We nicknamed him “Lenny”. He dances around the evening sky abruptly but with clear purpose.
Doc loves catching Lenny and the rest of the bats with us at dusk. Even going so far as to grab my Echometer and pointing it to the sky to catch the bats’ chirps. He sprints around the yard from point to point, mimicking the bats’ flight course. After wearing himself out he stops to take a break and catch his breath. This causes me to pause as I reminded of
He breathes. My wife breathes. I breathe. You breathe. Breathing. We all breathe. Even a bat…
A similar experience happened to ecologist Chris Morgan. Morgan hosts one of my favorite podcasts, The Wild. In a recent episode, Chris is on a field assignment with two wildlife biologists looking for rattlesnakes. Halfway through the episode a slow light breath comes one. Chris narrates that upon safely observing one of the found rattlesnakes, the reptile took a deep breath as its pupils narrowed. He comments, “I never thought I would hear one breathe. Snakes breath? Of course they do. They have lungs!” It’s a simple epiphany and mesmerizing both the same.
His breath, my breath, your breath. Breathing. We all breathe. Even a rattlesnake…
Catch your breath,
Will
Breathe With Me original crow painting