What birds mean
The stories people tell about familiar birds, traced to where they started, alongside what the birds are actually doing when they seem to be sending a message.
What does it mean when you see a cardinal?
Many people say a red cardinal is a visit from someone who has died. Here is where that idea comes from, what older Cherokee stories say about the redbird, and why cardinals are so often the bird people notice.
What does a blue jay symbolize?
Blue jays are loud, bold and clever, and folklore has treated them accordingly: as tricksters, as messengers to the devil, and as fierce protectors. Where those ideas come from and what the bird is really doing.
What does it mean when you see a hawk?
Hawks have stood for vision, power and protection from ancient Egypt to the present. What the traditions say, which hawk you are probably seeing, and what to know before picking up a hawk feather.
What do crows symbolize?
Crows have been omens of death, guides of emperors and messengers of gods. They also remember human faces for years. What the old beliefs say and what scientists have found.
What does it mean when you see an owl?
Owls stand for wisdom in one tradition and death in another. Where both ideas come from, what it means when you hear an owl at night, and what owls really can and can't do.
What does a hummingbird symbolize?
To the Aztecs, hummingbirds were fallen warriors reborn. Today they stand for joy and lightness. The history behind the symbolism, and the facts that make hummingbirds even stranger than the myths.
What does a mourning dove symbolize?
The mourning dove gets its name from its sad-sounding call, and doves have stood for peace and the spirit since the Bible. Where the meanings come from, and what the bird is actually saying.
What does a robin symbolize?
In North America the robin is the bird of spring. In Britain it is the bird of Christmas and of a legend about Christ's crown of thorns. What each robin means, and why they are two different birds.
What does it mean when you see a magpie?
"One for sorrow, two for joy." Where Britain's magpie rhyme comes from, why people salute a single magpie, how China sees the same bird as lucky, and the magpie myths science has disproved.