Black Birds

[Artemis]

I've been noticing black birds more often. I'm not sure if they're ravens or crows, I wouldn't know the difference, and I didn't get a good look at them. We normally get a bunch of birds around here since my aunt keeps her birds outside, and they usually kick their food out so these other birds come by to eat, but those are sparrows. However I first started noticing these black birds, when I stepped out of my house and one was just on the wall. It didn't fly away, was there for a bit before hopping down the wall some more. I tried to get a picture of it because it's strange to see a bird other than a sparrow hanging out there but it flew away. Later on in the day, it was back again in the same spot. I've seen a few fly over head on different days. I hear them in the morning, pretty nearby. They're louder than the birds I normally hear. There was one day that they were really loud, and I was just thinking that they should all just quiet down since it was getting on my nerves, and suddenly silence. They weren't singing anymore. So, I'm just really curious about what gods, and goddesses are associated with crows, and ravens.

[Heartsong]

Well, off the top of my head, I immediately think of Odin and his two raven companions Hugin and Munin. I also think of the Morrigan from the Celtic Pantheon, as well as Raven and Crow in Native American Folklore. There are a variety of reasons why crows or ravens would be showing up in your yard, though, and not just a sign from a deity. It could be an ordinary, natural occurrence (we have a lot of crows around here and none of them are very frightened or intimidated by humans. They're very curious and intelligent birds.) or it could very well be a sign. Here's a list of a couple of sites that talk about the significance of these birds that might might be helpful.

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/otherma ... Ravens.htm

http://www.ravenfamily.org/nascakiyetl/obs/rav1.html

http://www.druidry.org/library/library/ ... lore-raven

[Nightwatcher]

I know off the top of my head that ravens and crows can symbolize death as well, so maybe a death god/dess? Magic as well.