that animal sense thing

There was a tiny hummingbird sitting on one of the topmost branches of the birch tree across the street twittering away. He was cute, so I tried to show my husband.

I never think about the fact that some people are unable to see the things i can see--which is ironic because my "eyesight" is terrible. In fact, I'm closer to the legally blind end of the spectrum than not. I don't know when I developed the ability to "perceive" or detect the presence and exact location of animals...maybe it came with adolescence.

I realized a few years ago, that I don't really "see them" per se, I just know where they are almost instinctually. It's more of a feeling than one of the 5 senses. I tried to explain it to someone once, but realized that I can't quite do it justice with words.

I'll try to show people all the time that there's a deer hiding at the edge of the treeline, or a huge owl sitting in a tree, and they can't see these things even though I point right at it. I was, of course, the only one who could see the hummingbird sitting in the tree. It's a funny thing...