Re: Birds stalking me

Hawks are not carrion eaters, they go for live prey.
What you may have seen, Voodoo is a bunch of buzzards circling a road kill
or, who knows, maybe even a cattle mutilation off in the field that you
couldn't see. 
I personally have watched hawks and buzzards out here on the prairie
and a good rule of thumb is that if the wings are black or very dark
then there's a pretty good chance it's a turkey buzzard.  Most large hawks
you see circling have blunted wingtips and are tan or reddish colored
when the sun shines thru them.
I've never seen more than three hawks in the air at the same time, and
mostly it's one or two.
I'll bet it was buzzards that you and lyra saw.  They're the clean up crew.

32 (edited by Auendove 2006-01-15 08:24:37)

Re: Birds stalking me

Tom Paine, maybe I'm assuming too much (don't think so though), but I think Voodoo and lyra are intelligent enough to recognize the difference between hawks and vultures. I myself have no problem recognizing the difference between the two, just as I have no problem telling the difference between an eagle and an osprey.

My mate studied Falconry when he was younger. As I was intrigued by what I was reading, I showed him the above posts last night and asked him about hawks flying in large packs, because as we all know they are indeed mainly solitary in their living habit.

Still, I asked him if it was unusual for hawks to gather as a large group like this. His quick response and exact words were, "It's not only unusual, it's unheard of." He, although, did not question that it was possible. He then, without pause, went on to tell me about how his father's trees are budding, in Dec./Jan., and his father lives in MO...his point being that these are unusual times, and anything, like these hawks' behavior, is not out of the realm of possiblities.

As far as hawks being carrion eaters: while their usual prey is live, they will indeed eat carrion. Simply put, a hawk will not starve itself to death for lack of live prey. If push comes to shove they will eat whatever is available, rather than starve. This would be just plain ole common sense for the hawk to choose survival over a slow death due to starvation. It's also common sense for the human to as well figure out and know that a hawk will eat carrion, if the circumstances require as much.

Of course, there are two possiblities as to why these incidences have occured.

One  is environmental influences. The lone hawk, or a pair of hawks, may exhibit unusual behavior, such as migrating out of their otherwise established territory, to feed or reproduce because their normal environment has become unstable. But still, this wouldn't explain the highly irregular nature of them flying in such a large group.

Actually, I was reading a web page last night wherein was noted that there is a breed of hawk that do fly in packs of 10-15. I don't remember which breed it was, but it was indigenous to the areas Voodoo and lyra have described. This may explain what was seen, even though the numbers of them were doubled. Even given this information, it would still be out of the ordinary, and not average for them to be flying in such large numbers.

The second possibility is not so readily "googled," or easily known as a matter of educated fact. This possiblitly would have to do with the planet and energy, and changes. One of the animal spirit wisdom meanings of the hawk is that they come with regard to psychic energy. Letting my imagination roam free and envisioning what Voodoo and lyra had seen, I am reminded of the hawk's spirit wisdom, and then furthermore, energy vortexes. A stretch it may be, but given the unsual energy of late, and obvious earth changes, I would gander to say that something along these lines is not impossible.

Voodoo wrote:

It was beautiful though you know.

No doubt, wink .

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.

lol

Re: Birds stalking me

I was thinking about the earth changes before i read the last part of your post Auendove. I read about Hawks being solitary and at time migrating in large numbers. But lets say they were buzzards. Thats a damn lot of buzzards haha. But They were flying like hawks, they werent circling really either.

34 (edited by Auendove 2006-01-15 08:44:07)

Re: Birds stalking me

Voodoo wrote:

But lets say they were buzzards. Thats a damn lot of buzzards haha.

lol

But They were flying like hawks, they werent circling really either.

Another sign that they weren't buzzards.

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.

lol

35 (edited by Tom Paine 2006-01-15 09:56:10)

Re: Birds stalking me

Hi Auendove.
I wasn't questioning voodoo and lyra's intelligence.  It would only be a matter of
familiarity with bird life that would determine their ability to differentiate.
I didn't google to see if there were any species of hawks that gather in numbers,
I was just going on my own observations in the Southwest. But I stand corrected
if there is a species of hawk that does that.
Energy vortexes did occur to me as being a possible cause of this, and yes there
has been a whole lot of weird energy going on.
At any rate, I didn't want to take the magic out of voodoo's and lyra's sightings,
I just wanted to eliminate possible natural causes before jumping into woo woo land.

36 (edited by lyra 2006-01-15 10:08:54)

Re: Birds stalking me

Tom Paine wrote:

Hi Auendove.
I wasn't questioning voodoo and lyra's intelligence.  It would only be a matter of
familiarity with bird life that would determine their ability to differentiate.
I didn't google to see if there were any species of hawks that gather in numbers,
I was just going on my own observations in the Southwest. But I stand corrected
if there is a species of hawk that does that.
Energy vortexes did occur to me as being a possible cause of this, and yes there
has been a whole lot of weird energy going on.
At any rate, I didn't want to take the magic out of voodoo's and lyra's sightings,
I just wanted to eliminate possible natural causes before jumping into woo woo land.

Well, you could be right Tom Paine.  I did a search on "turkey buzzard" on google to get an image, and here's what came up:

http://www.hardingcounty.org/Photos/On_Web/Animals/turkey%20buzzard.jpg

^^^^ That's exactly what I saw.  !

A search on hawks yielded:

http://www.msstate.edu/org/mos/Images/Rough-legged%20Hawk.JPG

^^^^ That's NOT what I saw.  !

So, I guess you're right....it was a pack of turkey buzzards.  My bad!  big_smile

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
-----
"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
-----

Re: Birds stalking me

Tom Paine wrote:

Hi Auendove.
I wasn't questioning voodoo and lyra's intelligence.

Tom, I hope I haven't offended you. While my intentions weren't of the nature to offend, I do see how my post appears like I climbed up on a high horse sad . Please know that I am sorry if I've offended you, okay?

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.

lol

38 (edited by Tom Paine 2006-01-15 11:50:23)

Re: Birds stalking me

No problem, Auendove.  I'm constantly amazed at many people's unfamiliarity with
different kinds of wildlife.  Back when I was a kid, some of my fondest memories
were of seeing things in the wild.  At the end of our street there was a barbed wire
fence and beyond that was nothing but open country with rabbits, quail, jackrabbits,
crows, hawks, buzzards, possums, rats, snakes, mudpuppies (salamanders) bullfrogs
and egrets and cranes and doves.  Now there's the local police department, city hall
and an unending stretch of housing developments and paved roadways.

"...They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot"----Joni Mitchell

*sigh*

Re: Birds stalking me

Tom Paine wrote:

No problem, Auendove.  I'm constantly amazed at many people's unfamiliarity with
different kinds of wildlife.

Well, you know, my dad told me as a kid that these were "hawks", and I was what, 8, and so just took his word for it.  He was raised in NYC, so, he was confused too.   I never bothered to research what hawks looked like....because I never had to.  There was no reason to.  It wasn't relevant to my survival.   It obviously would have come in handy though those two times I saw a pack of over 50 "big birds" gliding low over my neighborhood....wouldn't have mistaken them as being "hawks", big_smile but, that's why messageboards can come in handy.  You learn schtuff.

I wouldn't be "amazed" though at people's unfamiliarity with wildlife.  Look at it objectively.  It's not relevant for their survival.  We live in a different world now than that of 100 - 150 years ago when people had to hunt, and there was an abundance of forest and untainted country, and people were out in nature in a way that they no longer are.   I'm not saying it's right the way it is nowadays....but you can at least understand why it is that way, instead of being amazed by it, right?  If it makes you feel better, I can recognize most of the critters you mentioned in your list!  haha   Spent 9 years in CT surrounded by woods and creatures, interacting firsthand with plants and animals and insects and all that, so I do have some background on wildlife.  Not as much as you, but more so than those urban kids of today.  wink

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
-----
"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
-----

Re: Birds stalking me

Reminds me of an interesting thing that happened to me once.  My house backs up to a little pond and behind that there are some big trees. Once in a while i will see crows hanging out in these trees (about 100ft from my back yard) in huge numbers.  Anyhow, about a year ago i decided i was going to invest a decent chunk of my money in a stock called GMC holdings, they claim to have a free energy device and at the time they were coming out with all these press releases and had raised the stock price from 0.25 to 0.90 in a day or two.  So i got in at like 1.15, and by the end of the day it went up to ~2.25.  The next morning I wake up and go outside and there are like, 50+ crows sitting on the fence of my backyard(which is very small, like 1/8 acre).  When I get out there, they stay for a moment, and then they all fly away to the aforementioned trees.  So I go inside and the price is like, 1.60 or something, I hang out for a while, go back to go outside, look out the back door, and all the crows are back on my fence.  This time I go out and slam the door real loud and they all fly away again.  So now at this point I am thinking this is pretty odd because we have been living here for ~10 years and I've never once seen this.  So I am paying attention to my backyard for about 30 min, looking out the window frequently and stuff, and they aren't coming back as far as I can tell.  Eventually I go back outside to find that all the crows are back, except this time instead of being on my fence they are split up about 50/50 with half on my neighbor to the left and half on my neighbor to the right.  And again as soon as I go outside they all fly away even though this time they are not in as close proximity as they had been before.  At the time I thought that maybe they were watching me and somehow knew that I was checking to see if they were still there, so they had repositioned themselves to the sides so I wouldn't see them.  I was convinced at the time that it had to do with my investment, so I went inside and sold at ~1.23, breaking about even after fees, within an hour it was <0.70 and it has been back at about .25 ever since.  I have seen some crows back in the trees way behind my house but I have never seen them on my fence since then(or before)

Re: Birds stalking me

I've been noticing much more interaction with the bird life, or perhaps more awareness of such.  This morning, a couple of birds were raising up a ruckus in the date palm, squaking up a storm (probably bird swearing at each other).  The other kind of birds that hang out in the cypress trees immediately repositioned themselves all in a row, seemingly wanting a better view of the squabble in progress.  They just watched wiithout even budging, and when the squabble was over, flew away (all of them at once).  Then came Mr. Crow, who greets me most mornings, nice fellow and all-even looks at me straight in the eye and cocks his head in a nodding fashion.  This past week or 2 there's been a few hawk  birds (Osprey I think) that display what flying REALLY is.  There were 2 of them flying up quite high, counterclockwise and exactly opposite each other, it was an exquisite ballet, magnificent, sacred and holy.  One of those moments where the hair stands on end on your arms and you are overwhelmed with the power of it all.  Yesterday there were 3 flying in the same area in a circle, performing a perfect weave that again appeared stunningly beautiful and balanced.  It felt to be a moment that conveyed "gift of the day".  Truly a wonder to behold.

A screech owl has been hanging around as of late, he or she ALWAYS comes closer when my honey is present, and when I'm just there it stays further away.  Now this gets a bit more interesting; my honey has been noticing a really huge owl with a rather large wingspan that trails/follows him to his building where he works just about every night.  Not only that, the owl stays there and hangs around until he leaves for home.  Seems to be a duh totem hint huh?

I sincerely hope the animals won't be driven out by all the urban sprawl, but in spite of such, they do manage to  not only appear, but   bless us with their dances.

If there is no time
      Then you have time for everything.
   You're never in a hurry.
That's true freedom.

42 (edited by Tom Paine 2006-01-15 14:06:29)

Re: Birds stalking me

Hi smeene.  My first impression of your story is that the flock of crows were scoping out
a new place to roost.  Whenever they feel like their roosting place has been discovered
by hunters or too many people, they'll move the whole flock to a safer place.

Hi lyra.  You hit it on the head when you said that knowledge of wildlife is not an
immediate survival concern of people living in the city.  We're getting more and more
disconnected from the world we live in and isolated from those magical interactions
that we can have in nature.  And we are less human for it.

"Wild life, the law of my life,
I'm goin' up on the mountain for the rest of my life.
Before the take my life, before they take my wild life.

Before they take my wife!.."

---Wild Life by Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

Re: Birds stalking me

I pay special attention to birds, especially the hawk.  There's one who seems to wait on me each day by the road I travel to/from work. Most days, he's on the telephone wires watching the road (instead of the field behind him!)...maybe waiting for me to pass by.  Once after a very bad work day, he was sitting in the gravel to the side of the road...I wondered why he did not fly away.  He sat there until after I drove by, then followed me part of the way home.  To me, the message was "stay the course" and to have faith in the path before me.  Of course, that's all very subjective and open to interpretation. 

Once, I found a dead red tailed hawk on the road.  It made me sad, but I viewed that carcass as a gift and took it home (yes, I know it's illegal to possess...don't remind me, please).  I used the feathers in some crafts, gave the tail feathers to friends, and kept the talons and wings.  I use the wings during healings, still have never used the talons yet.  Someday I'll find something to do with them.

http://www.sayahda.com/cyc.html  Here is a link to animal totems if you'd like more info on the animals crossing your path.

How deep is the rabbit hole, Alice???

Re: Birds stalking me

Here's an additional link to a website called "Shamanism: Working With Animal Spirits."

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4076/index1.html

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.

lol

45 (edited by silverfox 2006-01-15 18:20:14)

Re: Birds stalking me

I read these posts very fast, so if I'm being repetitious, sorry...there are a couple really neat books on the significance of animals that appear to us... ANIMALSPEAK and ANIMALWISE both by Ted Andrews...i find myself consulting them on the average of once a week.  Where I'm at now there's lots of wildlife, but if I see an animal doing something unusual (e.g. I have had flocks of woodpeckers, also "solitary") or see the same animal a lot in a brief time span, I look it up, and lo and behold, there is the message all spelled out for me. 

Andrews' books are based on Native American lore and I have found them very accurate, tho the index in the second one is not great.  Second one has animals (Birds, reptiles, insects too) that the first one doesn't, so pays to have both.

OK, some bird data : Buzzards and vultures have "fingers " on the ends of their wings -  feathers spread out like fingers on a hand, easy to see when they fly.  Raptors (hawks, eagles etc) don't.  So it is relatively easy to differentiate once ya know that.  Lyra's photos show this perfectly!

I am part Indian, and in such traditions, if an animal offers itself to you, it's ok to take.  I assume this covers roadkills!  I found out the hard way - spray the feathers with Lysol before storing them, as I once went to get some feathers and some kind of bird mite had eaten up everything except the quills..eeeeew.