Bird landing on you
A wild bird that settles on your arm or your head has treated you, for a moment, like a branch. It still feels like being picked, and an early Christian story has a dove choosing a bishop of Rome that way.
What it may mean
Birds land on things that do not move. A wild bird settling on your shoulder or your open hand has, for a moment, taken you for a railing or a branch, which is why it happens to people sitting on a bench, holding seed on a still palm, or lost in a book. Fledglings sometimes land on people because they have not yet learned fear. Still, it feels like being picked. An early church legend leans on that feeling: Fabian, a 1903 collection says, was chosen Bishop of Rome when a dove lighted on his head. Roles land on people in a similar way, by being in the right spot: the friend who books one dinner and becomes the family organizer, the coworker who trains one newcomer and then trains them all. You might ask which role settled on you by chance, and whether you would choose it today.
Depending on how you saw it
A chickadee taking seed from your hand
Chickadees come to an open palm after days of patient waiting from the person holding it, and then they come back again and again. The trick is to stay still. What would you have to stop doing to let something shy come close?
One that perches on your head
A bird on the head has most likely mistaken it for a perch, especially if you stood still under a branch or a feeder. It is startling and funny in equal measure. How quickly can you laugh when something lands on you out of nowhere?
A fledgling landing on you
Fledglings flutter clumsily and sometimes land on people, pets or garden chairs, with the parents watching nearby. Setting it on a branch and walking away is kindest. Who in your life is still learning what to be afraid of?
An escaped pet bird choosing you
Lost parakeets and other pet birds often fly down to people, since they are used to hands and shoulders. A bird that picks you may be looking for a home. What does it feel like to be chosen as a safe place?
Why it happens in nature
Wild birds rarely land on people unless the person keeps very still, offers food, or the bird is a young fledgling with little fear. Chickadees, nuthatches and some sparrows learn to take seed from hands at feeders and in parks, and escaped pet birds often seek out people.
What folk beliefs say
Early Christian Rome
Fabian, a 1903 collection says, was chosen Bishop of Rome when a dove lighted on his head, a story told in the early Christian church.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 1086. View the page
England (North Lincolnshire)
The people of North Lincolnshire took it as an omen of death if a pigeon suddenly became tame.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 623. View the page
To reflect on
Which role in your life settled on you by chance, and would you choose it today?