Funny you should post this. I have a murder of crows and a few ravens that hang out around my house summer and winter, It's only been in the last week or so that I've realized they are watching over me, providing an "early alarm" system. For example, when a bear comes around, they will run it off, and then follow it through the tree tops up the mountain telling me where it is as it leaves, keeping me updated until it is over the mountain. They have a language of sorts, a different call for each predator they see - they have a different word for "man" than they have for "man with a gun". They know the difference, and annunciate it.

They have a different word for "bear", dog", cat", and "hawk", but curiously the crow word for "hawk" and "eagle" are the same thing, just louder for an eagle.

a bald eagle has made camp somewhere near here, and the crows tell me when it is in my area. I've gone out a couple times after it has been here to see if eagle left me  feather to use when I'm "smudging" with the tobacco, but so far no eagle feather. The ravens seem to have noticed that, because they left me two big old raven feathers to use. How they knew I was looking for feathers, or that I needed larger feathers, or what it was for, is anyone's guess, but leave them for me they did. They left them at my tobacco plants so that even I, being a mere dumbassed human, wouldn't miss their meaning.

Late last February, a red-railed hawk perched in a tree in the edge of the woods outside my bedroom window. The crows let me know it was there, and I watched them trying to run it off for about a half an hour before they succeeded.

Crows and ravens can be taught to speak human, just like parrots can. My dear Old Dad knew some kids in WV who had a pet crow, and it would talk. It would hang out with the kids when they were playing and yell "play ball!" at them. One day it was raiding the dog's bowl, and the dog took exception to that and snatched a mouthfull of feathers out of the crow, and the crow jumped back and cussed at the dog like a sailor, until a fly wouldn't alight on it.

Crows are smart, and can recognize individual humans, some as "friends", and some as "enemies".

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(09-05-2022, 02:40 AM)Ninurta Wrote: Funny you should post this. I have a murder of crows and a few ravens that hang out around my house summer and winter, It's only been in the last week or so that I've realized they are watching over me, providing an "early alarm" system. For example, when a bear comes around, they will run it off, and then follow it through the tree tops up the mountain telling me where it is as it leaves, keeping me updated until it is over the mountain. They have a language of sorts, a different call for each predator they see - they have a different word for "man" than they have for "man with a gun". They know the difference, and annunciate it.

They have a different word for "bear", dog", cat", and "hawk", but curiously the crow word for "hawk" and "eagle" are the same thing, just louder for an eagle.

a bald eagle has made camp somewhere near here, and the crows tell me when it is in my area. I've gone out a couple times after it has been here to see if eagle left me  feather to use when I'm "smudging" with the tobacco, but so far no eagle feather. The ravens seem to have noticed that, because they left me two big old raven feathers to use. How they knew I was looking for feathers, or that I needed larger feathers, or what it was for, is anyone's guess, but leave them for me they did. They left them at my tobacco plants so that even I, being a mere dumbassed human, wouldn't miss their meaning.

Late last February, a red-railed hawk perched in a tree in the edge of the woods outside my bedroom window. The crows let me know it was there, and I watched them trying to run it off for about a half an hour before they succeeded.

Crows and ravens can be taught to speak human, just like parrots can. My dear Old Dad knew some kids in WV who had a pet crow, and it would talk. It would hang out with the kids when they were playing and yell "play ball!" at them. One day it was raiding the dog's bowl, and the dog took exception to that and snatched a mouthfull of feathers out of the crow, and the crow jumped back and cussed at the dog like a sailor, until a fly wouldn't alight on it.

Crows are smart, and can recognize individual humans, some as "friends", and some as "enemies".

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They are smart, engaging, and they like to interact with other species.

I saw a raven sitting on a fence post a few months ago. It was the biggest raven I have ever seen. He acted like he was king of the field, watching over the cows and the very young calves. We have a problem with coyotes, but I think that single donkey and the huge ass raven, was keeping everything under control. Donkeys don't play.

I love ravens and crows.

I don't know about a spirit animal, but I resonate on so many levels with..........Bulldogs, English Bulldogs to be exact.

I just....get it.

Big, ugly, intimidating looking, but once you get to know them they are just big harmless dummies. They are stubborn as hell, do what they want when they want and don't care about what anyone thinks.

You just look at them, and it's like someone took a bunch of parts that shouldn't work and just threw it together. Yet somehow, it functions.

They also are much smarter than they look/act, something that certainly applies in my case.

Don't know about spirit animals either but I do know this: I am a dog magnet. I work on the road and whenever there's a dog somewhere, be sure it'll come to me. I've seen some pretty nasty dogs come up to me, wanting to play or wanting a hug and their owners going "WTF..that's supposed to be a guard dog!" or "He/She NEVER does that with anyone!"

At first, years ago, I just thought that it was my love of the dogs that did this. With hindsight and as I age, I realize that it's more than that. I've never, ever seen anyone having dogs come to them like they do with me. Any race, any type, big and small, male or female, gentle or killer ones.

So I'd say it's probably a safe bet that my animal spirit is a dog.

(09-05-2022, 11:18 AM)Sol Wrote: Don't know about spirit animals either but I do know this: I am a dog magnet. I work on the road and whenever there's a dog somewhere, be sure it'll come to me. I've seen some pretty nasty dogs come up to me, wanting to play or wanting a hug and their owners going "WTF..that's supposed to be a guard dog!" or "He/She NEVER does that with anyone!"

At first, years ago, I just thought that it was my love of the dogs that did this. With hindsight and as I age, I realize that it's more than that. I've never, ever seen anyone having dogs come to them like they do with me. Any race, any type, big and small, male or female, gentle or killer ones.

So I'd say it's probably a safe bet that my animal spirit is a dog.

I spent over 20 years making home visits. The dogs always knew that I had come to help their owners. They always treated me welcomingly.

Like with you, this used to freak out a lot of owners. But this trust has been shown to me by not just dogs. I have had stray cats come to me for help. I had one dying cat bring me her babies. I had a squirrel adopt me. Rabbits that have run to me for protection when under attack. A baby bobcat, come for help, and two baby owls.

So much animal strangeness and me, has left to my family and neighbors calling me Dr. Dolittle.

Animals are a lot smarter and more intuitive then people give them credit for.

They have been known quite often to ask people for help. It seems they are pretty good at picking which one of us humans to ask.

(09-05-2022, 11:18 AM)Sol Wrote: Don't know about spirit animals either but I do know this: I am a dog magnet. I work on the road and whenever there's a dog somewhere, be sure it'll come to me. I've seen some pretty nasty dogs come up to me, wanting to play or wanting a hug and their owners going "WTF..that's supposed to be a guard dog!" or "He/She NEVER does that with anyone!"

At first, years ago, I just thought that it was my love of the dogs that did this. With hindsight and as I age, I realize that it's more than that. I've never, ever seen anyone having dogs come to them like they do with me. Any race, any type, big and small, male or female, gentle or killer ones.

So I'd say it's probably a safe bet that my animal spirit is a dog.

I can identify with that. Dogs have always been drawn to me. When I was a teenager, folks would come and just "drop off" unwanted dogs in the wilderness that was my neighborhood expecting them to revert to the wild and fend for themselves. All of the dogs came to me, so I generally kept a kennel's worth of dogs there.

Once I was hired to defend a factory where a disgruntled employee got himself fired, and promised to come back and shoot the place up, and everyone in it... so they hired me to shoot him right back. On my first evening there, some of the employees were complaining of a big scary dog hanging out around the entrance, so I went to check it out. The "dog" looked a lot more like a Timber Wolf, complete with the wolf teeth and the "sideburn" ruffs of fur along his jowls, and the heavy, bushy tail found on wolves but not German Shepherd dogs. He had no collar on, so I could not identify any owner to call to come get him, but as soon as I emerged through the door, the dog made a beeline for me, and I kid you not, it sat down right at my feet like it expected me to do something, so I reached over and scratched his ears. From then on, for the entire duration of my work there, that dog waited outside for me, and accompanied me on my perimeter sweeps and whenever I walked an employee to their car in the parking lot. The employees just assumed that I'd brought "my" guard dog, and felt more secure that he was outside at work when I was inside... except it wasn't my dog. I'd never seen it before in my life, nor had they. When my work there was done and I left, so did the dog - I know not where he went - and the employees never saw it again.

My third wife had a big Standard Poodle that was a rescue. The dog had been raised in a crack house, and every bone in her body had been broken at least once by the time she was 8 months old. When my ex rescued her, she hated men. ALL men, didn't matter who it was, she'd try to eat them up. The first time I ever visited her house, she warned me about the dog, but instead of trying to eat me, Duchess just came right up to me and sat down at my feet, like she was expecting something, just like the wolf-dog had, so I scratched her ears real good for her, too. They said that dog mourned for me like I was dead when I left and never came back.

So, Yeah, I can identify with your situation, bu have never figured out why it is.

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(09-05-2022, 02:05 AM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

you know how you always see crows on the road eating road kill.
ever wonder why you never see a dead one on the road?
it's because there is always nine or ten up on the power lines saying caw caw when they see one coming