For the Birds: How Ethno-Ornithology Opens Doors to Understanding Relationships with Others

Introduction

The four papers presented in this special section examine various facets of how different cultures characterize birds as members of a social world, engaged in reciprocal relationships with other beings as kin and companions. Birds are understood through symbolic meanings elaborated in myths and ceremonies that impart avian knowledge, which is why birdcalls and other behaviors are attended to with care. Birds are also seen as guardians who can protect or punish when taboos are broken. Respect is owed them, as messengers or even embodiments of the deities and the ancestors.

In Turner and Bhattacharyya's paper on northwestern North America, they note that “Plants and birds are both regarded in Indigenous worldviews as non-human ‘people'—sentient beings with their own spirits and capacity to assist humans who treat them with care and respect.” From the Andes to Australia, a similar relationship is demonstrated in other papers from this special section. Birds are understood as members of kinship categories, such as clans, that incorporate many kinds of beings in reciprocal networks of rights and responsibilities. In Clarke's paper, he observes that birds “were perceived as sharing the same totemic ancestors as people.” These avian spirits warn clan members of impending danger and can carry the souls of the dead to another world. Similar themes appear among Indigenous societies of Latin America. As I discuss in my paper on hummingbirds and vultures in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Peru, these birds are seen as relatives or spiritual guides who can transport the souls of the dead to the heavens or to sacred mountaintops. In these kinship-based societies, kinship is embedded in every aspect of life, such that kinship categories crosscut Western boundaries of human, bird, and plant. Understanding birds as actors within social relationships is crucial for appreciating how bird etiquette guides people's behavior towards other animals, plants, people, and sacred lands.

Birds are teachers who instruct humans on how to live respectfully in relation to others. As Turner and Bhattacharyya point out, birds such as the robin show people when certain foods are edible and how to find them. According to this ecological knowledge system, birds not only provide pragmatic information, but their songs help plants to grow. For example, the thrush's song causes the salmonberries to ripen. People carefully interpret not only the details of a bird's appearance but also the sounds a bird makes. The importance of attending to birdcalls and songs is shown in Sarvasy's paper, which analyzes how these sounds are embedded in the names for many birds. She explores the ways that avian vocalizations are perceived and understood in terms of human language. In particular, through onomatopoeia, new words are created that mimic bird sounds, and in warblish, existing words are used that imitate bird sounds.

The papers in this section show how birds are honored not only for their beautiful plumage and songs, but also for their knowledge and wisdom that are vital for maintaining the world in balance. Birds teach us about ethical concerns and warn of danger to the environment, such as climate change. As Clarke points out, for the Ngarrindjeri of the Lower Murray in Australia, protecting the land is part of their cultural obligation to the bird spirits of their clans. These bird spirits connect clan members to the land and provide them a sense of identity and belonging. If the land is destroyed, then access to these ancestor spirits disappears. In dealing with the Australian government, the Ngarrindjeri employ these bird spirit traditions to validate their concerns about threats to the environment.

Cooperation with birds is crucial to human survival, as taught through myths and ceremonies that provide instructions on how to care for our surroundings and protect them for those who come after us. In Mexico, Costa Rica, and Peru there are traditions that warn of the consequences for ignoring the teachings of birds, for they are seen as messengers of the gods and protectors of the land and her plants and animals. As I document in my paper, hummingbirds and vultures embody cultural oppositions such as life and death or healing and illness. When sacred obligations to the birds who represent the deities are not fulfilled, there can be serious consequences in the form of storms, drought, or sickness that afflicts people and their flocks.

Our need for recognizing bird knowledge throughout the world derives from not only the practical information birds provide, but how this leads to a deeper appreciation for ecological interconnections and interdependencies. Through focusing on birds, we can broaden our understanding of what it means to live in harmony with nature, not only thinking of what birds mean for people, but what birds expect of people when living in reciprocal relationships of shared rights and responsibilities. Rather than simply being pretty adornments with lovely voices, birds carry us through cultural doors that open onto vistas of core values for each society.