by John Wells
A little while back I went researching old wives’ tales and superstition in general, because we are losing them from our culture quite rapidly. That is a shame because, while most of them need not be thought about too seriously, they mostly have a historical background and often contain old truths.
When I did that, I was surprised about all the superstitions in western cultures that are held around birds. Be warned that they might not be the fluffy little things you see in the garden after all.
Let me start with owls. Regarded as eminently wise, with a collective noun someone invented (“a parliament of owls”). They have big eyes and are a handsome bird. There are many, many species all around the world. They fly in the night, they kill things and that makes sudden sounds in the darkness, and they have a call that carries a long, haunting way on a still, sleepless night.
For what it is worth I think that Geoffrey Chaucer invented that collective noun in a long satirical poem written in the 14th century. The poem had three titles. One of which is the “Parliament of Foules”.
If an owl came into your yard it was a sign that death was close – interestingly, this is a very strong superstition in parts of Italy, too, and probably other places. Some, if not all, the tribes of native Americans, believed you could hear a name in an owl’s call, but only if it was your own name. That meant the person named was on a very short string. It even became an acknowledgement of accepting imminent death – “I heard an owl call my name”.
It is also considered bad luck to see an owl during the day. 
The crow is a handsome bird with a terrible reputation thousands of years old among the superstitious, and aren’t we all just a little bit superstitious? Deep inside?
Seeing crows around you is bad luck, but seeing a dead one is good luck. Seeing crows in a churchyard is never going to end well. The decision on what you do to turn bad luck into good is up to you. Where the owls were a ‘parliament’ we now speak of a “murder of crows”, which seems a little telling. 
The Greeks believed that if a crow was seen at a wedding the marriage was doomed. Another little ritual (I’m not sure of the origin) in some cultures is to release two crows at a wedding, If they fly away together well and good, but it they part, so will the temporarily happy couple.
A flock of five crows means that someone nearby will fall ill, and a flock of six means an impending death. Do not count crows. Don’t count seagulls too closely, either, because a group of three flying over your head…well you can guess the rest.
A bird flying into your house is a sign of a message coming and probably good news, unless the bird is white, in which case the number of humans in the house is about to be depleted. Let the bird escape and be gentle – if it dies inside your house you are all doomed. You have been warned.
Nor should you ever kill a sparrow. They are jaunty, hard-working little birds that do no harm and thy are said to carry the souls of the dead – that is a rather important function, don’t you think?
Peacocks have more superstitions around them than you might think, and it always seems to be around those eyes on the tail. The problem is that in some countries they are regarded as very bad luck and in others they are regarded as harbingers of very good luck. There are too many superstitions about peacocks to even begin listing them.
There are happier myths about some birds. It is considered by many Australians and Europeans that swallows bring good luck if they nest at your house, or in your cowshed. Ours always used the cowshed because I think they felt humble. Kingfishers, too, bring good luck, and as the kookaburra is a kingfisher that means we be very lucky (eventually) because the kookas are everywhere at the moment.
Having wrens around will prevent drownings, and sailors long ago, perhaps the most superstitious people ever, and with good reason, would sometimes carry wren feathers with them at sea. On the other hand, if a sailor killed an albatross there was no hope for him, wren feathers or no.
A bird tapping on your window means that you will hear from a loved one very shortly
My neighbour recently got rid of his rooster because it made too much noise. Val and I rather liked that old farmyard sound from our past, but such is life. The crowing of a rooster can tell you many things, including that it is time to get up.
If the rooster is free to move around and crows near your house then surely good luck will follow. If he crows unusually early, probably waking you up, he is saying that the day will be fine and warm. That is a good enough reason to get up. On the other hand, if he crows at night (roosters and humans do not always agree on when the day should start) there is bad weather looming.
Black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus back then but now officially Zanda funereus) flying about your place means that rain is imminent. How much and exactly when, they don’t say. Nor do any of the other ‘rainbirds’.
Blackbirds around your house are also supposed to indicate good luck, so just sweep up the mess they making scratching in the mulch for worms and don’t complain too much, or not out loud.
So there are good birds and bad birds, and birds which are neither or both.
Perhaps Daphne du Maurier knew something in 1952 when she wrote a short story about flocks of seemingly harmless birds suddenly massing to attack people. In 1963 Alfred Hitchcock turned it in a movie. 
Don’t watch it if you have a cockatoo, a budgerigar or a canary, or even a finch… you’ll never trust them again!