[violaine]

today is already quite warm in indiana. visiting the feeding stations today are the following birds-

sparrows, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, jays, and on the ground- mourning doves, american robins, crows [my favourite], & late afternoon/early evening ducks.

the red-winged blackbirds take over the feeding stations, and make a shrill sounding * chreeeeeep- chreeeeeep*

during a walk, i'll see all of the birds listed at the feeders plus- finches, woodpeckers, turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks, cooper's hawks, great blue herons, ducks, geese, crows, and great horned owls.

cornell lab is a wonderful place i am very fond of ornithologist kevin mcgowan, and he's why i became a supporter of the field work/research he's done over the years with florida scrub jays and crows. i've made his acquaintance, and while some people may become star struck over actors, i'd much rather meet ornithologists/primatologists and so on !

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/index.html

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/ia...le/animals.htm

the first link is to kevin/cornell, and the second

has tons of information on history of art/animal symbolism.

Falcon / Hawk byk - The sacred bird of the falcon-headed solar god Horus, it was also regarded as his Ba. The falcon was a bird that had protective powers, and was frequently linked with royalty, where it was depicted as hovering over the head of the pharaoh, with outstretched wings. The falcon was also sacred to Montu, god of war, and Sokar, god of the Memphite necropolis. The bird of prey was sometimes associated with Hathor, 'The House of Horus'. The son of Horus, Qebehsenuef who guarded the canopic jar of the intestines, was a falcon-headed god. The human headed ba-bird was sometimes given the body of a falcon.

Heron bnw - The bnw-bird was represented as a heron, and was thought to be the original phoenix - it was a bird of the sun and rebirth, the sacred bird of Heliopolis, closely linked to the primeval mound. It was also thought to be the Ba of both Ra and Osiris.

Ibis hb - Regarded as the reincarnation of Thoth, the sacred ibis was sacred to the god of knowledge, who had the form of an ibis-headed man. The Akhu, part of the soul, was written with the sign of a crested ibis, known as the Akhu-bird.

Ostrich nyw - Ma'at, the personification of order, was shown as a seated woman wearing an ostrich feather as her headdress or as the feather itself.

Vulture nrt - sacred to Nekhbet, goddess of Upper Egypt and Mut, mother goddess. The vulture often holds the shn symbol of eternity in its talons, offering eternal protection to the pharaoh. As such, the vulture is closely linked to rulership.

happy day birding to you all-

belle