What are your thoughts on the symbolism associated with various birds?

I grew up a St. LOUIS CARDINALS fan. Still am. My mother and father loved the team and the bird. Me and my siblings after our parents died, each of us in three different locations around the country, have each had a pair cardinals looking over us at our homes. They are our parents checking on us. Two of the three of us believe.

I think of blue jays as bullies, but I'd be delighted to find a scrub jay in my yard, even though it might exhibit similar behavior.

My Grandmother always had these sayings that mentioned birds. The day that she passed my Mom & I looked out @ our deck at a moment when each available space on the railing was covered in Sparrows!! We both knew instantly that it was a "sign" from my Grandmother that she was okay and still with us. Till this day neither of us have ever seen so many Sparrows lined up like that .... on her deck or anywhere else. If seeing a particular bird/ or birds triggers an intuitive message or thought then I believe it is a message for you. Listen :) Very interesting article.

Walnut cracks upon my roof, scrub jay eats it without a tooth! Cardinal chips her evening peeps, seeks her seed before she sleeps. Sparrow eats his french-fried pie; likes McDonalds - I'm not sure why!

When my sister was ill, we talked about cardinals. She enjoyed walking as exercise ( she even talked her 3 sisters into doing a 1/ 2 marathon in the August heat in Chicago) and the morning she died a cardinal sang to me as I walked. It didn't even fly away as I approached it. I have heard a cardinal for a year now whenever I walk. I know she is with me.

As a devout birder since 1979, I love all birds except number 2. They are the bullies at the feeder. Some of the names that don't fit are " a murder of crows" they are wise and family oriented. My family of 5 are a pleasure to me.

Blue jays and magpies are raucous but I love watching them. This year it seems we have 1 little jay coming to the feeder with mom and dad. We're on the edge of the Western habitat area for cardinals (one of my very favorites), and Mr. & Mrs. Big Red are visiting along with the finches, sparrows and juncos, jays and flickers. There's also lots of wild turkeys in the area. We have a large picture window in the dining room, so I've set up a larger feeder just outside so Gus, the cat, and I get to watch bird TV. It's quite a show.

I have always loved birds and have had the pleasure of living in several homes that had some type of bush surrounding me so there are always different types of birds near me. I too love the crows and have had a family here for many years. My funniest tale would have to be when the 2 adult crows first came to visit and they were indeed very noisy. I began talking to them and every time would say 'shush..not so loud' when they started crowing. They eventually learned to trust me and I could be out in the yard with them and they sat silently waiting for peanuts. The following summer they brought their youngsters with them. They squacked and were very noisy. One of the adults flew up beside the noisiest one and literally smacked him off the fence with his wing to shut him up. I never laughed so hard but they too soon learned to be quiet. I have cardinals, blue jays, many types of sparrows, gold finches, several different woodpeckers, flickers, robins, catbirds and on and on. I've counted at least 30 different types. Even had a grouse come every fall and strip the mini apples off our flowering crab tree...I love them all.