Calling all the Crows

We woke up to -22C. Crickey Sheila! I thought those minus double digits were gone and we had settled in to nice winter-spring temperatures. The cold weather stymied my morning running plans. I can't rouse any enthusiasm nor action when it's that cold. The beauty of it being late February is that the temperatures are steadily warming and by 2pm it was only -6. I was itching to get outside, I'm not so good stuck in the house all day. There is only so much computer time I want and I don't know... I get a little squirrely stuck in the house, the outside is much better!


Today I had decided to go for a shorter run, maybe an hour. Yesterday's long ski day was still felt in my body. I promised myself I could shuffle along if I had to but I definitely needed to get running. Skiing is fun and yes it's excellent cross training but at the end of the day I need running mileage if I have a hope of doing well on this Napa Race. I'm not near close to the mileage I'd like to be running. (slight panic in my writing)


I was opening the door to leave when our neighbour Holly almost knocked me over. It was like she knew I was heading out for a run and wanted to catch me before I left. She looked up at me with her hopeful big brown eyes, lopsided goofy grin and her fast wagging tail. Holly Dog was ready for a walk! Holly used to be Ray's faithful walking companion when he was able to go for his walk around area. Holly Dog is a 10 year old Border Collie and has been mom and Ray's neighbour (along with her owner Phil) for about 5 years. In her prime she was a lean, mean competition herding dog. Now her face is peppered with gray, she's gotten a wee bit fat and suffers from arthritis. But Holly is unaware of these unfortunate circumstances. She was still eager to be my companion. In the old days she would have easily ran 2 or 3 hours with the effortless grace of an animal born to move. Not any more.


I didn't have the heart to turn her away even though I knew she would tire quickly. She would push herself as hard as any athlete, but she'd pay for it for a week with sore, stiff arthritic muscles. So I took her out for a brief run and then turned back for home. I could see that she was starting to run like she was sore and most likely she had already gone out with her owner Phil earlier in the day. Once we got to her drive way she started up the drive knowing where she was going. She stopped to see if I was following her and her ears pricked up when she realized I wasn't continuing. I pointed to her house and said "Go see Phil Holly, go see Phil!" She understood instantly and headed back to the house without too much fuss. I turned around to formally begin my run. I didn't mind going leisurely with Holly, my muscles were heavy and needed to be warmed up slowly.


I decided to travel east and would be travelling past the Ormand Lake ski trail where MaryAnn and I had just travelled yesterday. Mom most definitely did not want me going on the trail alone but today the siren song of the sun glistening through the trees was too much for me and I veered up the trail. I took out my headphones so I could hear. I told myself I would only go a little ways and besides I knew the trail and it was easy terrain and yada yada yada. It was incredibly beautiful and the steady incline was challenging.


A snowmobiler had been up there after MaryAnn and I so the trail was in good running condition. Its similar to running on sand as one's footing slips and slides each time but that's what also makes it interesting and an excellent workout. Plus there are no roots to trip over!


I forced myself to turnaround. Downhill felt like running on air as now the slipping and sliding worked to my advantage. I got back to the road and had that runner's high going on - when the running begins to feel like magic. I decided to pick up the pace and use this run for speed/hill work.


I tired myself out and had to walk and that's when I saw the crow. There he (or she) was flying in lazy circles above me. I like crows, they're real smart and seem to enjoy human company. Ray said that one time he was walking in the bush and he heard what sounded like a human talking. As he continued to listen he eventually figured out that it was a crow following him and mimicking people noises. Crows are incredibly curious as well, it's not too hard to attract their attention. I used to make crow noises as a kid and worked at sounding similar. I was good at Loon calls too. When I was a kid out at Bednesti lake the loons and I would call back and forth over the mirror surface of the lake in the waning evening light. But it had been a long time since I had tried to call a crow but I figured what the hell! 


I started to "caw" and "crow" feeling kind of stupid but doing it anyhow. The first crow started to fly lower and soon I saw another crow coming closer, and another, and another. Then I saw the crows in the trees take flight and I began to get goosebumps as I counted about 15 crows flying sanguinely in the air above me, taking their turns to fly individually closer to check out the human making the crow sounds. For some it may have felt like a weird re-enactment of The Birds but for me it felt like communication, I called and they came. I have long been fascinated about communicating with animals. I remember watching Dr Doolittle and having a sense of a truth in it. Perhaps that was the appeal of a shamanic spiritual path, everything talks; the elements, the animals, the celestial heavens. This idea has resonated with me since I can remember. Now I'm curious to see if it can work.


Then it got weird.


As another crow flew above me slowly, I thought to myself: 
"This crow sees me"
No sooner had I thought this that another thought entered my awareness and it said 
"The eagle sees you as well" 
I immediately categorized that as a quirky thought because there obviously was no eagle, only crows.


Yet another response chimed in; "Whoa, wouldn't that be cool if there was an eagle..."


Suddenly something made me turn my head. Sitting slightly above me but in a tree quite close to where I was sat a large Bald Eagle as still as a statue. He had been silently watching the spectacle of the crows and I. I don't know if the crows saw him, I know I sure had no idea he was there. When my head intuitively turned to his direction, he immediately and silently lifted off from his branch. The large branch bowed under his weight as he pushed off gracefully. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I saw and felt the silent force of his strength as he took flight. I had never been that close to one of these beautiful birds, his actual size and power awed me. I surmise that the only reason he stayed there was because he knew I wasn't aware of his presence. It would have been impossible for him to not notice me; I was squawking like a crow! 


It's a strange feeling to have a voice in my head informing me of salient details in my environment. I'm not complaining mind you, just stating that it feels odd. I know we're not supposed to have voices in our head or at the very least not tell anybody about them. Joan of Arc found that out the hard way now didn't she? I've heard this voice a few times when my life has been in danger and it has calmly told me what was going to happen next. One time on a mountain climb I jumped over a boulder and it was rather spooky how it happened. I was standing on an ice slope when a boulder from above let loose. It was tumbling towards me and I had my eye on it closely as it will veer randomly in different directions. Eventually I realized it was coming straight in my direction. At some point a calm voice spoke inside of my head like an intercom and said: "We're going to have to jump". It felt like a survival-override program was triggered and it had taken over my body but was giving me the courtesy of informing me of what was going to happen to save my bacon. It was this same voice that mentioned the Eagle. Good to know the voice will speak in non life threatening situations too.


I can't say for sure what exactly is going on in these situations except that I've come to feel that there are probably nested biological operating systems that we humans are governed by. Some of which we are consciously aware of and others that we are not. They hum along doing what they do which is ultimately to keep our bodies safe and sound. It appears that some of these typically unconscious systems can communicate to our cognitive awareness when need be.


There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that suggest that meditation, contemplation and time spent in nature can hone our intuition and perhaps it also fosters this increased communication between operating systems. Most mystic traditions say this is so but we have no evidence based data to back it up yet. Although there are enough scientists involved in areas previously considered taboo to legitimately study that we may learn more about animal intelligence, intuition and the body's internal communication systems.


On my way back home I looked out over the lake and saw a dark figure moving across the lake. I had a pretty good idea of who it was. I took a look through my binoculars to confirm that it was indeed MaryAnn making her way smoothly across the lake. I gave a loud yodel down to her but I'm not sure if she saw me, I didn't hear a yodel back. I had told her that I needed to get out for a run today so I was happy to see that she was enjoying the warmer afternoon weather too.


I got home later than I expected as my one hour run had turned into two. I felt like I had received an added gift today to be able to communicate in some fashion with the animal world and see an eagle so close up. Magic was definitely in the air.