Birds, birds, and more cool birds

If you have been reading this blog for long you may have noticed that I have a thing for birds. I love spotting different types of birds and contemplating their unique messages and lessons. Each year I go to Florida with my family for Thanksgiving and I am always delighted by the birds that I see there. This year was no different - I saw wild parrots, peacocks, woodpeckers, osprey, hawks, frigates, pelicans, seagulls, cormorants, storks, herons, egrets, and bald eagles. It was so incredible to see such a variety of awesome birds.

Last year I was fortunate enough to see a bald eagle soaring with some turkey vultures (one of my favorite birds). I think the highlight of this trip was seeing 2 bald eagles! What an incredible blessing!

The first bald eagle sighting came while I was looking at a flock of peacocks that live in a neighborhood near the place where we stay. Each year we like to drive through this neighborhood to look at the beautiful peacocks.

We pulled up to a yard where there were a few peacocks and got out of the car to admire their beauty. I was excited to see that there was also a stork in this yard. I had never seen a stork up close and it was awesome! Pretty soon many more peacocks came running into the yard. It was so funny to see them running toward us. All in all there were a dozen or so peacocks!

Then I heard a chirping noise and looked up... to my complete amazement I saw a bald eagle flying right over me. It was flying low and I could see it's beautiful white head and tail. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. I stood in total awe as I watched it fly over me. Then I tried to snap a quick pic as it flew away, but unfortunately it didn't turn out well.

I was thinking that it was a once in a lifetime event to see a bald eagle flying so low over my head. Then a few days later I was shopping in St. Armands circle and I looked up and saw another bald eagle flying low right above me! Oh my God! I felt like I had won the lottery!

I like to read about the birds I see in Ted Andrew's Animal Speak book (not an affiliate link). If you are interested in totems and learning more about the messages that birds, animals, and insects can bring to us, then I highly recommend this book. According to Ted, eagles represent illumination of spirit, healing, and creation. Here is an excerpt about eagles from Animal Speak:

To align oneself with eagle medicine is to take on the responsibility and the power of becoming so much more than you now appear to be. From a karmic aspect, it reflects that the events will now fly faster, and the repercussions for everything you think, do or say (or fail to think, do or say) - positive and negative - will be both stronger and quicker. To accept the eagle as a totem is to accept a powerful new dimensions to life, and a heightened responsibility for your spiritual growth. But only through doing so do you learn how to move between worlds, touch all life with healing, and become the mediator and the bearer of new creative force in the world.

Whoa! I am still absorbing this information. I recognize their great power and feel honored to have seen these magnificent birds.