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| Birds of Prey as Symbols |
| April 20, 2003. |
By Professor Fabio Cupul
University of Guadalajara Puerto Vallarta Campus
 The
term birds of prey is used to describe the group of
hunting birds characterized by the strong, hooked beaks
they use to tear apart their food, and the robust claws
used to catch and hold their prey. These birds’
senses of sight and hearing are highly developed. There
are two distinct types of birds of prey: those who operate
during the daytime such as vultures, eagles and falcons,
and those who function best at night among which owls
are the ones we know best.
Nevertheless, besides the attributes
that characterize those birds, there is also the fascination
with them that has stimulated human imagination for
millennia. Some authors believe that we are so attracted
to them because they move around on two feet like we
do. Others maintain that as they are flying creatures,
they function as media between man and his divinities.
In addition, they have surely enjoyed so much fame throughout
time also because of their arrogant and powerful appearance,
especially eagles and falcons.
 Eagles
have been used to symbolize the gods Zeus and Odin.
Also, their image has been synonymous with imperial
power, thus their prominent role in the heraldic seals
of Romans, Austrians and even Russians. When the United
States chose the bald eagle as the symbol of their nation,
Benjamin Franklin manifested his disagreement in the
following paragraph which was part of a letter he wrote
to his daughter:
“I wish that the bald eagle
had not been chosen as the representative of our country;
he is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get
his living honestly; you may have seen him perched on
some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself,
he watches the labor of the fishing hawk, and when that
diligent bird has at length taken fish, and is bearing
it to his nest for the supper of his mate and young
ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.”
Franklin also described the bald
eagle as a “rank coward”. He would have
preferred it if the symbol of the United States had
been the turkey, as it is the only one of its type on
the continent.
 On
the other hand, the impression North American natives
had of the bald eagle was very different from the opinion
expressed by Franklin. For them, the eagle was the expression
of valor, good judgment and humility.
The eagle also holds its share of
mystery when it is used as an icon in Tarot cards, concretely
in the High Arcana as the Emperor, in the forefront
to the right, in a seal that appears to be leaning on
the ground. On that card it symbolizes the soul purified
by discipline and strength controlled by will. But it
also figures in the Arcana of the Empress as a symbol
of the soul enthroned in nature.
For its part, the eagle played a
legendary role in the foundation of the Aztec capital:
Tenochtitlán. According to the myth, the Aztecs
founded their capital where the eagle was found perched
on a cactus. This place corresponded to Tenochtitlán,
“the place of the cactus on the rock”.
 There
is no question that one of the birds of prey surrounded
by the most mystery is the owl. Many of the perceptions
generated about this bird throughout time are very confused
so it isn’t surprising that there are so many
opinions about it. Much of the mystery that surrounds
it is due to the fact that this is a night bird of prey
and, as we know, night has always generated a feeling
of mystery in human beings.
The owl is the symbol of all that
is female, the moon and the night. Some cultures have
called it the “winged cat” while others
believe it to be the reincarnation of evil, the devil.
The respect or fear which Romans had for owls was such
that if one of them was accidentally found to be roaming
through the city, it was immediately subjected to a
purification ritual.
Finally, one of the least physically
attractive members of the group of birds of prey are
the vultures, as much so in the Old as in the New World.
According to legend, the sun used to be very close to
the earth in ancient times, something that caused life
to be intolerable. To resolve the situation, all the
animals got organized and set to work to push the sun
away from the earth.
The first volunteer to try was the
fox who grabbed it in its snout and threw it as far
as it could. But the heat of the sun was such that it
burned the fox’ snout and he had to give up. Today,
the inside of a fox’ mouth is black, a legacy
of its past when it tried to bite the sun.
Nevertheless, the problem of the
sun’s closeness to earth persisted, so the opossum
stepped up as second volunteer. She encircled the sun
with her tail and tried to throw it so as to distance
it from the earth. Her efforts failed as the sun turned
very hot and she had to let it go when it burned the
hair on its tail, leaving it hairless as we can see
it in her descendants.
 Everything
looked lost until the vulture appeared to offer his
services as third volunteer. In those times, he was
an animal with beautiful plumage and the strongest of
all living beings. His head was adorned with a panache
of beautiful feathers that were the envy of all other
birds. But despite its arrogant beauty, the vulture
was fully aware of the danger the Earth was in. Without
wasting any time, the set out to push the sun away with
its head until it was far enough away to be set up high
in the sky. Even though he felt his panache being consumed
by the sun’s heat, the vulture continued in his
fight until he had set the sun up high enough at a safe
distance from the earth. His efforts saved the earth
from extinction but it also gave his head that bald
look for all eternity.
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