11 Comments
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Laura W.'s avatar

Your blog shows how great all of this is and I love it. Beautiful post honestly and it makes me ponder a lot. Passing along this post to a friend of mine who is a birdwatcher. ❤️🦅

Maura McHugh's avatar

Cheers, Laura!

Lisa Fransson's avatar

I loved reading this, everything you write about are things I ponder myself, but you articulate them so well. Coming from a rural background where the interactions with nature wasn't a weekend activity but a fact of every day life, it was easier to see how these animals expressions entered our language, and our attitude to them, or relationship with them, our consciousness. My dad was that hunter finding that valuable fox fur and taking it to the fur market, although as far as I could tell he was sly enough himself not to ever let himself get tricked by one. 🦊

Maura McHugh's avatar

Heya Lisa, thanks for this - I replied but it seems to have vanished, so excuse me if you get this twice! My dad grew up hunting small game and did so for a while when I was a kid so it was a normal thing in our household. Both sides of my family come from rural/farming backgrounds so interactions to the natural world were very different back then. Animals could be livestock and companions. The people observed the cycles and nature's hard and beautiful sides. We're mostly cut off from this close interaction. Having immersive periods in Nature can bring back this understanding quickly. Animals and birds do have a lot to teach us if we pay attention.

Lisa Fransson's avatar

Yes, this is very similar to me. Rural Sweden still very much adhere to the seasons, marking each one in various ways, whereas here, in the city, it could be any time of the year really.

James's avatar

That's a lovely piece to wake up to, the sounds of the birds not so much a cacophony as a constant variety of chattering, from chirps, to whistles to song to the deep chawing, a very nice accompaniment and delightful read.

Maura McHugh's avatar

Thanks, James!

Gary Hetzler's avatar

I bought a T-shirt in Lahinch with the image of crows on it. Along with the shirt was a note explaining the significance of crows in the West of Ireland. In addition to mentioning "the Morrigan" war deity sometimes appearing in the form of a crow, it also says that, "Crows are often regarded as lucky especially if they roost in your trees...." That's news to me!

Maura McHugh's avatar

Definitely not the case for loads of people. The various crow family members tend to be noisy and nosy, and prone to setting up shop in your chimney! None of this was considered ‘lucky’ back in previous generations. My grandfather used to consider them close to villains, though he softened towards them later in life when he was not actively farming, and found them intriguing rather than threatening. They are scavengers, so they can make life hard for farmers sometimes.

Georgina Bruce's avatar

Excellent photos, Maura. I do love our corvid friends.

Maura McHugh's avatar

I'm very fond of them!