I have a hobby I like to call "bird holding"... no seriously!
(although it's not so much of a hobby as something that just keeps happening in my life.)

One way or another I always seem to end up holding a distressed or wounded animal ranging from tiny mice to wild dogs to  fully grown deer...but usually it's a bird... 
mostly I hold them just to give them the chance to chill for a while and recuperate after a shock or something. Or just to free him/her from some place they have gotten stuck in. Or to stop some dog or cat from killing them.
 I have had the pleasure of thusly aquainting myself with such diverse feathered friends as : Blue Tits, Black Tits, Great Tits (I've actually held an amazing amounts of tits in my lifetime ;-) Falcon, Goldcrest, Robin, Brambling, Crow, Sparrow, Goose, Duck , Finch etc. and it's always so awesome to feel the life and pure energy in such a relatively lightweight compact shape.
A true nature-spirit, a genuine faery creature straight from legend , possessed of a poise and beauty beyond any human comparison ...

Like this Blackbird... the absolute "king of the singers" (long ago, the Blackbirds taught me how to play the flute, so I have always been fascinated by them )...  look at that sleek body!, That bright eye!, such a strong and fierce beak! truly a proud warrior... This fellow was in a short hefty combat with a rival blackbird just outside our house, when he got confused and he flew straight through the open door and into our front room where I was cleaning the altar on Bealtaine. He came in screaming like a banshee and smacked rather ungraciously into the window about half a metre from me and then started thrashing against the window in an effort to get out through the glass...  I quickly caught him and quietly calmed him so that he wouldn't go into a shock or total panic, and held him for a while as I sung a soothing song. Soon he chirped up a bit and calmly perched himself on my hand...  (and before you ask...no words like "nevermore" were uttered)  so he simply sat for a spell on my fingers, just getting his head back up to normal "bird-speed". When he felt stronger He skipped onto Jenny for a little while, perched like a pirate's parrot on her shoulder... Untill he simply felt himself ready to go and resume his  life's road and with a small Chrirrup! he spread his wings and flew back into the forest... 

"bird holding"... there's really nothing like it! :-)
Don't you just love this life!? 

Greenthingz! on black feathered wingz!
Shaman SteveSic and my friend the Blackbird

photo by Jenny