Bird Omens

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird? ~ David Attenborough

 

Bird Omens from Folklore form Adams County Illinois by Harry Middleton Hyatt

549. Birds eating a great amount of food in the morning mean rain.
550. Birds always oil their feathers just before a rain.
551. When you see a multitude of small birds dusting themselves, they are preparing for a storm within three days.
552. If birds sing during a rain, the weather will soon brighten.
553. Caged birds singing in the morning before they are uncovered are a presage of a bright day.
554. A bird that flies back and forth in its cage is forecasting a storm.
555. Clear weather is foretold when birds venture far out over the water; stormy weather, when birds remain near the shore.
556. The flight of birds in a southerly direction, no matter how short the distance, is a signal for falling weather.
557. Mating among birds in August tells of a late winter.
558. If birds depart for the South during early September, the winter will be long and cold.
559. The call of a spring bird late in winter is a token of colder weather.
560. Spring is ushered in by the first blackbird.
561. Blackbirds flocking together always announce a change of weather: in summer, a rain; in winter, a snow.
562. Before a snow you will always see a large flock of blackbirds on the ground.
563. As soon as blackbirds gather in a cornfield, you may make ready for winter.
564. One harbinger of spring is the first appearance of a bluebird.
565. On hearing the first bluebird of the season, expect a rain soon.
566. If you see a bluebird, it denotes good weather next day.
567. A bluebird near your house in the morning brings a rain before night.
568. Blue jays just before a storm become excited and cry repeatedly.
569. The male blue jay is supposed to have a peculiar but indescribable note which it uses only preceding a storm.
570. As a herald of spring, wait for the first buzzard.
571. If a turkey buzzard is sailing through the air, the weather will turn warmer.
572. A buzzard in flight is always a sign of rain.



Photograph Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado, All rights reserved worldwide.