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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
One for sorrow, two for mirth,
Three for a wedding, four for a birth,
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret not to be told.
Eight for heaven, nine for hell,
And ten for the devil's own sel'.
--- Anyone remember what they were?
I was taught by my Irish Grandmother it was a saying about RAVENS which then morphed into crows then any time you see birds - even in a picture or the like.
But I was taught :
One (bird) for sorrow, two for joy,
Three to marry, four to die.
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
I knew there were two more lines but couldn't remember them.... given some of the superstitions about ravens the devil part could fit!
That's my contribution. Any help?
Edit Could it have been magpies originally then become ravens? Are there magpies in US? Ravens?
Any birders in this flock?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Are there magpies in US? Ravens?
No birder I but.
Ravens we got but not all over. There sposed to be some here in NYS but not that I've seen. They were common as swamp water coffee in Flagstaff back when I lived there ('70s). By magpie are we talking pica pica?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 96
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 96 |
I dont know about Pica Pica, but they are black and white ,they kinda look like they are wearing a dinner suit, they have a reputation for thievery, but in reality it is just a strange fascination for things that shine or sparkle, hence the stories about them stealing jewellery from opened windows. I think there may be an opera called the "thieving Magpie" but im not sure
the Duncster
the Duncster
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addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
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Are there magpies in US? Ravens? Indeed, we got both. In fact, last weekend I was camping with my kids at Pinnacles National Monument (lovely place - oodles of wildflowers in the springtime) and at the campground there was a gorgeous yellow-billed magpie (only found in California, but worth the trip). He had a couple of campsites he had staked out and he'd strut around in the dry grass, daring us to approach. Here's a pic: http://www.buteo.com/ptreyes/magpie.htmlAs to ravens, I've seen them in the Southwest, same as Faldaje - on a two-week raft trip in southern Utah a couple of years ago they would regularly cruise the canyons above us, and then try to sneak off with any unguarded food - one monster of a raven flew away with half a package of Fig Newtons™ clutched in its beak. [/birder ramblings]
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear AR: just looking for a chance to bug you, I checked. Poe's adoptive family took him to England at about age six, and returned with him in 1820. Incidentally there was a famous pathology meeting at Johns Hopkins, in which an previously obscure pathologist became famous for presenting convincing arguments that Poe died of unrecognized rabies. Rabies is notorious for causing "furious" behaviour in animals. But there is a less publicised "dumb" rabies . There have been human deaths from rabies, with diagnosis made only long after death. There have been a couple cases of persons dying from rabies following tissue transplants taken from people who had rabies that had been misdiagnosed. Racoons should never be made pets, as they can have transmissible rabies with no warning symptoms.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200 |
Dear dr. bill: Dang!  My hat is off to the master googler. [signed] an Ar-rant Knave
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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What are the big, carrion eating birds we used to have here in NYC? where they ravens? or crows? ore ravens and crows the same?
what ever bird, they were the indicator species for West Nile Virus, and the population is way down.
i had noticed a month or so before the new became public that there were fewer of them around. (it is even more evident now, with lots of road kill remaining on the roads, instead of disappearing.) Many of NYC's highways are parkways-- they have large green sides, sometimes abut parks, or sometimes transverse parks. and for a city, we have lots of parks, and lots of wildlife. i see raccoons and possum pretty regularly in my neighborhood. squirrels by the million, even manhattans vest pocket parks have resident voles..
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Are there magpies in US? Ravens?
The US part of the question has been answered but I thought I'd throw in some Canadian information. We used to live in Ft. McMurray, Alberta, which is in "northern" Alberta (I put this in quotes because it's only halfway "up" the province). The ravens there were awful, they would eat garbage, so if you didn't use a garbage can for your bags on garbage day things could get quite messy. They were huge - much larger than any "sensible" bird should be. The running joke was that they could carry off small children, if left unattended.
There have been ravens in every place I've lived (until now), and they are annoying as all hell. And ugly! A group of them lived outside my old apartment window, and they'd wake me up on summer mornings with their incessant screaming/cawing. Really hideous beasts.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
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Bean, at one point I was chatting with a fellow from Alberta who used "north Alberta" to mean "backcountry", regardless of actual compass direction.
Is that usage standard there? Elsewhere?
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