The last two birds took longer to spot than the first two sets had. The skies seemed surprisingly empty, almost as if the birds knew they were being watched. But far in the distance, Rhea spotted a bird gliding and then occasionally hovering above the edge of the treeline. A buzzard, perhaps? Funny, she'd mentioned buzzards in the her earlier answer. Was there danger or strife in her future? She wasn't one to believe those kinds of prophecies but this was Hogwarts and that meant anything was possible.

Wouldn't it be ironic if she'd unknowingly foreshadowed some sort of trouble in her future?

.... Bird #3 .... Bird of prey? Glide & Hovering ....

After she finished sketching that, Rhea put down her quill and brought her omnioculars back up to her eyes. She just needed one more bird or group of birds. And it wasn't long until she spotted one. An extremely small bird, by the looks of it. Not far from where the buzzard had been. It had a more sporadic flight pattern. Flapping its wings and flying up and then sort of gliding or swooping down slightly. And it kept repeating that. She lowered the omnioculars and studied her textbook. Undulating flight? That seemed about right. Now the hard part was drawing it.

.... Bird #4 .... Undulating flight ....

With that done very badly, she gathered her things and returned to the barn. Was it possible that the smell had gotten worse while she'd been in the pastures? Ugh. Rhea placed the omnioculars back in the chest and returned to her mat.

SPOILER!!: Rhea's notes

ORNITHOMANCY

Divination methods
Geomancy – Scry with feathers
Ichthyomancy – Observes & interprets fish behaviour
Scatomancy – Animal poop ↝ ‘what’s to come’ in your future
Hippomancy – Hippogriff behaviour ↝ intuitive / horse behaviour ↝ neighing and stomping etc.
Ornithomancy – Birds ↝ behaviour, flight, cry and song
Alectryomancy – Interprets how roosters eat grain ↝ spread grain over letters ↝ yes/no question about future / how the roosters crown
Archanomancy – Spiders ↝ how they look, sizes & general behaviour
Ailuromancy – Cat movements & jumps ↝ predict weather
Myomancy – Rodent behaviour incl. mice
Scatomancy – Animal guts
Felidomancy – Cat behaviour & movements / sometimes called Zoomancy or Theriomancy
Uroscopy - Studies animal secretions ↝ colour, flow pattern etc. / helps healer identify disease ↝ future readings
Myrmomancy – Interprets ant or termite behaviour / sometimes calls Theriomancy or Zoomancy
Orniscopy – Bird formations
Scatomancy – Animal poop ↝ future readings
Apantomancy – Chance encounters with animals / Black cat superstition
Omens – Buzzard (danger or strife) / Grim in tea cup (danger or death) / Animals stampede ↝ omen of bad weather

Observation: Birds’ flight patterns
#1 – Exhibited a classic 'flap and glide' pattern. High in the sky
#2 - Flew in a 'V Formation' across the sky
#3 - Bird of prey? Glide & Hovering
#4 - Undulating flight

Ornithomancy…the study of birds for divination.

Cassie copied it down into her notes, turning to it in her divination textbook so she had it available for reference during their little starter activity. Why did it seem like a theme that was going on in classes this term…gather students and then send them on a hunt or observation trek? Well she still had to do it regardless of whether or not it was so she got up from her seat to head out into the pasture. Not without grabbing a pair of omniculars from the box of course.

Now to see what she could see.

Oooo look, there was one of the owls from the owlery, Cassie mused, raising the omniculars up to her eyes for a closer look. She studied its flight for a few minutes before looking down into her textbook for comparison. Flap and glide it seemed, which given what was written on it, was appropriate for owls. The Ravenclaw added it to her notes before letting her gaze search the sky for her next target.

SPOILER!!: Notes

1- The owl swapped between moving its wings to using the air current to float which I label as Flap and Glide

Dahlia had been sat for ages - or what seemed like ages - with the omnioculars pressed to her eye, staring into the sky and seeing nothing but blue. It was almost as if the birds didn't want to come out to play. But then something came into view, and she squinted, trying to training her eye to see it even better. An owl. Probably one coming back from delivering a letter. So she wasn't sure if it was flying the usual way - like it would if it was hunting - or just going some to get back home as quick as possible. Either way, she made a note on her parchment of what she saw, and went back to searching the skies.

In the intervening few minutes, several other different birds flew over their heads, and Dahlia was quickly scribbling down all the ones she could see for long enough to judge their patterns. She wasn't entirely sure what all the birds were, however. But she didn't think it mattered, as the professor had just asked for the way it was flying. So that's all she wrote in her notes.

SPOILER!!: Notes

Pattern 1: Flap & Glide - I saw an owl coming back in to the school, and it was flapping it's wings, then occasionally just gliding, I think to conserve energy?
Pattern 2: Hovering - There was a bird over the nearby field, and it looked like it wasn't moving, just staying in the one spot. Probably looking for food below.
Pattern 3: V formation - There was a large group of birds, I think they were geese, and one of them was at the front and the others behind, forming a V shape as they flew.
Pattern 4: Circling - I think it may have been some kind of hawk, but it was flying in circles overhead, and gliding around with it's big wings barely flapping.

Vivian was slightly disappointed that they wouldn't be able to interact with the animals inside the barn. That would have been the highlight from today's class for her. Kinda defeated the purpose of being outside the barn when it could have just been anywhere at the Grounds if they were only going to watch for bird flight patterns in the sky. Ah, well, it wasn't like she was one to complain. This Slytherin had been extra careful with making a fool of herself during class.

The blond stood up and took a pair of omnioculars from the box, examining it as she made her way to the pastures. She found a nice space for her to have a good view of the sky without any trees as distraction, and squinted to see if there were any birds flying by. There was one! A few of them flying! Vivian raised her omnioculars to her eyes and gazed at the birds. HMMMM. And then another group of birds!

Wow, must be her lucky day.

He was walking around like everyone else and on occasion he looked up at the birds, but he wasn't taking notes like some of the others nor did he knew what any of it meant other than they flew away because there was so much noise on the ground with all of them walking around. His biggest time spent was having his head down and eyes on the ground. The best place to find creatures was down not up and that was what he was hoping, though the noise was going to keep them hiding as well.

So instead of staying with the group, he headed to an area that students really were at. Looking around he finally saw something moving. Could it be a snake or "Ahhhh" He jumped back as a flock of birds came out of a taller area of grass. Looking around he hoped no one heard his scream and he hurried to make himself look busy again.

Where were the snakes? This was a pasture for Merlin's sake.

Birds. Alright. Sure. Don't ask her what a bird flying high in the sky minding its own business had to do with her future, an instruction was given and for the next hour she would follow it. This meant rising with the others in the class and heading over to grab a pair of omnioculars. The Professor had already hinted at the kinds of patterns she didn't want them to come back with, which would either make their work easier, or harder.

She'd see. Had to go out first, see what she could find.

Jessa tucked her notebook and parchment under her arm and trudged off, blue eyes locked on the equally blue sky. If someone had told her that she would spend her morning staring up at the sky and getting lost in her thoughts, she'd have told them otherwise, insisting she had better things to do--until she checked her schedule and realized the lesson would be Divination....then she'd believe it.

As it happened, the Ravenclaw didn't feel much up to watching birds. Don't get her wrong, she would for the most part stick to the task at hand but she was interested in a far more entertaining study. Would the Professor notice if she faked it all? Would it make an impact at all? What would the long term effect of such a simple decision be?

Willing to find out, Jessa took the omnioculars, walking as aimlessly as she felt the others were. Occasionally, she would point them to a group of birds flying by but it was for little more than show.

When she felt she'd gotten far enough away and out of the eyesight of most, the Ravenclaw chose a spot below a shady tree and began to diligently make her notes.

SPOILER!!: Notes

• Undulating flight – This describes a kind of rollercoaster style where the bird flaps its wings during the rising phase, then glides as it descends into the valley of the wave. Woodpeckers and finches can be seen using this style of flight.
  
• V Formation – This is probably the most recognizable pattern, used by migratory birds such as geese, ducks and swans. The flock is arranged in a V pattern, each bird slightly higher than the other to take advantage of the lift that is generated by the wingtip vortex of the bird in front of it. The lead bird and outside positions of the formation are the most physically difficult, so the flock members take turns at these positions to help conserve energy.
  
• Zigzag – Snipes and grouse fly up and down in a somewhat triangular path. This is can be seen when a bird is flushed and is trying to elude predators.
  
• Hawking – This techniques refers to flying out and up from a perch, then back again in a circular motion. This is used by flycatchers and warblers to hunt for insects “on the wing”.

Each pattern received a drawing directly under it, big enough to be seen without being of a ridiculous proportion.

Eager to see the results of her experiment, the young girl hopped to her feet and made her way back to the Professor and the rest of her classmates. Was she testing the Professor's inner eye? Maybe...possibly....highly likely. It wasn't necessarily an act of insubordination but rather one bred from unadulterated curiosity. No one had ever really explained how it all worked to her, so she would try to find out for herself.

No harm in that, yeah?

Patrick sighed as he grabbed a pair of the glasses he would need to spot the birds. This was a task that he just never had the want to do. His grandmother enjoyed divination, especially when it came to birds. He plopped himself down in the grass and decided it was about time to wait it out.

Stay silent, still, and observe. His grandmother had told him this countless times when he had tagged along for the afternoons. With a deep sigh, he dropped his head back to look at the sky, so far not a thing, "lovely, going to be here all afternoon with a crick in my neck." he mumbled under his breath. Just as he was about to give in and drop his head back toward the ground he heard wings flapping followed by birds coming into the sky. His eyes tracked them before looking down to his paper to write what he spotted.



He dropped his head back to his chest to stretch out his neck. It wasn't as easy as people thought. Leaning your head back constantly, sitting quietly, heck he had tons of thoughts running through his head that he wanted to voice. He rolled his eyes before laying his head back again to look up at the sky. He spotted more birds in the air and got his pen ready.



He closed his notebook looking pleased with himself for picking up on the few things his grandmother had taught him when he spent time with her on the few summers she would visit. He walked back toward the barn wanting to get his seat back and be prepared for the next portion of class. Didn't want to loose any points for Slytherin at this point.

Did his family celebrate Groundhog Day? "Oh no. Especially not now that we live in France." His mum had never really bought into that particular tradition, though she did realise that animals did sense certain things.

Whew, they were just bird watching. This made Ronan feel better about the whole lesson, given some of the things that his classmates had mentioned. Bird watching he could handle. He fetched a pair of omniculars and headed for the pasture. Once there, he took the time to properly adjust the omniculars, then put them his eyes and looked up. And looked. And looked.

And looked some more. Finally, he spotted a flock of geese flying in a perfect v-shape and jotted it down.

Text Cut: notes

V-formation; geese: Possibly flying South for winter?

Etta had been staring up at the sky for a long time, occasionally glancing down at her textbook for some detailed reading. She knew she had to be patient. After flicking through the pages of her book for a while, she raised her omniculars to her eyes again... OOOH! Just her luck. She honestly couldn't make out what kind of birds they were.. since they were way too high up in the sky but they seemed to be flying in circles. How very interesting.. she immediately noted it down before looking at her textbook. So those birds must have been hawks or vultures, yeah? Scary. After a while, she resumed looking up at the sky again but this time she noticed that these birds were.. simply gliding. There was no flapping of the wings at all. They somehow looked like swifts but she wasn't sure. Anyway, once again, she noted it down first before referring to her textbook. .. Oh, she was right! Swifts travel a distance without flapping.. GREAT.

SPOILER!!: notes

1. Undulating flight - Flapping of the wings and gliding

2. V-Formation - The flock is arranged in the form of a V

3. Static soaring - Flying in circles

4. Glide - Gliding to travel a distance

Harriet was bored now. She honestly did not really like divination. And she really did not get the bird thing at all. At least she had tried a little bit but now she felt like she was just getting a bit distracted and not really looking at what she was supposed to be doing. It was not going to be good. At least she knew she didn't really want to do anything with this subject. She just hoped that she'd pass the OWL at least. That was the whole point in taking the subject in the first place. So maybe she actually needed to concentrate a little bit more.

So she tried to at least find one more flight pattern of the birds. At least it would then look like she had really tried. "Oooh...." She murmured, as she looked up at the sky. That was interesting. The birds were flying in a V. She knew that was pretty cool. It was getting colder now, so they were probably trying to find some warmer air.

She smiled though, and jotted that down. Okay. So she'd found three. WAs she done now?

Annnnnd.....looking, looking, looking again. And, wishing that he'd brought his sunglasses with him. Man, the sun was bright.

Finally, after about five minutes he found more birds and watched them for a second. Doing the flap and glide. Ronan couldn't tell what kind they were, though he knew he could eliminate owls from the possibilities, since they were nocturnal. So, either ravens or hawks. Did it really matter, though? He hadn't heard Professor Vance say they had to identify the birds, just the flight pattern. Hmmm.....

Text Cut: notes

v-formation; geese: Possibly flying South for winter?
flap & glide; ???: since I can't identify the birds, I have no idea

Maisie took the water, with a small, panicky, "Thank you," She sipped from the glass. "Just... have a few problems with anxiousness." She whispered, hoping no one would overhear. She'd been planning on getting through the year without anyone finding out, although her mother had offered to write to the school and explain. But Maisie had been having her panics frequently and since there wasn't much private space at Hogwarts, they often happened around other people. Well obviously, it was people that were the problem.

-

Maisie was grateful when the lesson progressed to the outdoors. It always felt like there was more air there and she could breathe more freely. There was more space between her and people around her and it was much easier to put even more space between them quicker.

The first flight pattern Maisie spotted was direct flight. She drew the bird, some sort of corvid, and added on its flight pattern in a series of blue dashes. One straight line.

It was a while before there were any other birds to spot. Maisie occupied herself by trying to see her favourite astronomical aspects in the daylight. She wished she could be out in the air at night. Night air was the best. She made a mental note to spend some time in the Astronomy tower that day and went back to squinting for birds.

A flock of sparrows went by, giving Maisie the opportunity to draw some lovely glide patterns.

These were closely followed by an owl, delivering a letter to someone probably, doing some static soaring. Maisie labelled her diagram but wondered about it. Perhaps the person the letter was for was unavailable. Maybe it was for a student in a class. Maisie's world brightened. It might be from her mother!

In her premature excitement, Maisie almost forgot about her fourth diagram. She was reminded when a noisy flock of geese flew over in a V formation.

-

Maisie headed back into class, with four careful blue diagrams, labelled in black, tucked into her notebook.

After identifying two of the flight patterns, Vivian placed the omnioculars down, searched inside her bag for a spare parchment and quill, then pulled them out and began to scribble what she had found. She had her textbook open on her lap as she double-checked what she saw. They seemed all correct, so she nodded to herself (SO PROUD FOR GETTING IT RIGHT) and folded the corner of the page as a bookmark, then closed the book.

Back to bird sighting again.

The blond took the omnioculars and raised them to her eyes, looking back up at the sky. She kinda wanted to hurry up now, as she didn't want to last too long outside in the sun... as well as to avoid possible neck strains from happening. Adjusting her view and looking around, she continued to examine up above, noting some patterns and eventually jotting them down her parchment. Not bad.

When the students left to go outside to look at the birds and label and sketch flight patterns Laurel went out with them. She took her own omniculars to observe the birds in the sky with and went around and gave tips, chatted with students and answered questions as the students worked with their mini assignment.

Going back into the barn Laurel waited until all the students had come back before she cast a spell to collect the students notes. A summary then appeared magically in the air in a easy to read red colour.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spotted bird patterns

• V-formation
• Flap & glide
• Static soaring
• Skimming
• Hovering
• Zig-zag
• Hawking
• Direct flight
• Undulating flight

Gesturing to the bird patterns Laurel said "You should all give yourselves claps on the shoulders since labelling flight patterns from observing birds that fly fast isn't easy. Why i wanted you to label flight patterns is because they have meanings for the future readings you will perform further on in the lesson."

Laurel paused for a moment before she continued "Some of the more basic interpretations of the birds patterns you found are as follows; the bouncy flap and glide is significant to a path full of surprises. A nose dive is significant to a path where you should go head first into things. A circular, hovering pattern is significant to a path where you should back track and retrace your steps. The very common V-formation is significant to a path where you should value and trust your friends. The zig-zag patterns is significant to path where you should let yourself be surprised by the direction your lives takes. Gliding/hovering is significant to a clear path ahead." Laurel said as she walked over to stand by the stall where 4 certain birds lived that immediately flew over to look out at the kids.

"Now then let's look closer at one of the birds that Professor Wayland keeps here in the barn which is the Augury. Say hello to Susie, Romeo, Julia and Artreyu! The Augurey's are most famous for their mournful cry and has since ancient times been believed to foretell death.

Ulric the Oddball owned 50 augureys and its said that all his augureys cried in unison on a particular rainy day which led him to believe that he had died and become a ghost, but he hadn't died which was proven when he tried to walk through a wall and couldn't and instead got a heavy concussion.

It's been established since then that the augurey's only sings/cries to foretell the coming of rain which is why they're frequently used by many wizards as weather forecasters. If we think about birds in general again for a moment do you all think that birds flight patterns, songs or cries in the augurey's case could be used for something else useful aside from rain forecasting? If so what?"

OOC: Question 2 has been asked; Does your students think that birds flight patterns, songs or cries can be useful for something else aside from rain forecasting and if so what? Be creative, theorize freely! There is no right or wrong. All answers are welcome even far fetched ones.. I'll move on at approx 7 pm GMT+2 tomorrow night.

Back in the barn, Professor Vance continued their lesson and introduced them to Professor Wayland's feathered friends. Susie, Romeo, Julia, and Artreyu. An interesting collection of names, thought Olivia. There must have been a story behind how they had gotten their names. She'd have to ask Professor Wayland that later but at the moment Vance was speaking about Ulric the Oddball and his 50 auguries. 50? Merlin. That was quite a gaggle!

But the question that Vance asked was an interesting one. Could birds' songs or cries be used for something else other than rain forecasting? Vi wondered. Weather patterns of course. Perhaps a change in air pressure. Or a storm? What about a metaphorical storm? Like a big event that was about to happen? Perhaps in ancient times... Though in literature, Vi knew that some authors liked to use birds as a form of warning to the characters. "Perhaps bird's flight patterns, sings, and cries could be useful for alerting someone to a metaphorical storm? Such as some form of danger being near them or in their near future?" she suggested. She was unsure exactly where she was going with this but she'd give it a try.

Zoryn DID give herself a pat on the back, but not for the reason Professor Vance had suggested. Zor was patting her own back for the very fact that she was still here and still very awake, despite the HORRENDOUS news that class wasn't over yet. What. a. Letdown.

"Roosters sing to annoy us and to wake people up from their beauty sleep," but that's all Zoryn had for this question.

Were they done? Could they leave now?

She had put quite enough effort into this class for one day, thanks.

The Augurey's were so CUTE! Well, to her they were anyway. In reality they were kind of like the vultures she saw on the TV at home, on those nature documentaries. But all the animals, even the ugly ones, were cute in their own way, and Dahlia sat and stared at them as Professor Vance spoke and congratulated them on getting so much good information. And then offered some more of her own, as well as the next question for them.

A question Dahlia had to think long and hard over. She'd never really paid much attention to what birds did before now. Of course she watched them and heard them, mostly in her garden, but she hadn't really examined what any of those weird chirps and calls they made might mean. Other animals, though, they had warning cries when there as danger. So maybe birds did too?

"Do some birds let out a call when there is a predator around? Like, to let others know to fly away, or maybe to get together to scare the nasty one off? Could that maybe help people too?"

Some of these students' answers were simply disgusting. Amelia had always struggled to relate to that aspect of childhood; the obsession with dirt and mud and peeing and pooping that many children seemed to share. Even her oldest daughter already had that same obsession. Amelia simply didn't get it, but she recorded some of the answers anyway. Professor Vance was able to navigate all of the students' answers with ease, hopefully teaching them all about various Divination methods. Amelia was pleased that the Divination professor didn't indulge in any nonsense or frivolity as she answered those particular students.

The next portion of the lesson was to be a practical one. Amelia did not gather any omnioculars like the students did, but she did discreetly follow the class and observe how the students were doing. Most of them seemed to be on task and following the professor's instructions with ease; Professor Vance herself walked among the students and provided guidance to several of them. The school governor followed the class again as they resumed their seats inside the barn and listened attentively to Professor Vance's lecture. The woman clearly knew her subject quite well, and she was conveying the information in an effective manner. Amelia took more notes and paid attention to the students' behavior in particular this time. Another question was posed to the students, and Amelia couldn't help but wince in anticipation of the surge of ridiculous answers she was sure would be coming from the younger students.

SPOILER!!: Amelia's Observation Form

HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

BOARD OF GOVERNORS OBSERVATION
Observer: Who is observing the lesson?
Amelia Raventhorne
Professor: Who is teaching the lesson?
Professor Laurel Vance
Subject: What subject does this lesson fall under?
Divination
Topic: What is the concept students will learn about over the course of this lesson?
Ornithomancy
Objective: What are the 1 or 2 student learning objectives/goals that will be measurered in this lesson?
[text]
Launch: How does the professor get the lesson started? What technique(s) did he/she use to engage students?
She began by asking a general question regarding divination methods that involve creatures. Students had some good answers, but also some rather disturbing ones. Professor Vance was able to turn each answer into a learning opportunity for her students.

Instruction: How do diverse students engage with ideas/texts to develop their own understanding; what guiding questions does the professor ask; how is the professor promoting question generation/discussion; what activities are the students performing? In short, outline the lesson as you observe it.
[text]
Closure: How does the professor bring closure to the lesson?
[text]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Glows: What are 1-3 areas that the professor did well as observed in this lesson?
[text]
Grows: What are 1-3 areas that the professor can improve on in the future?
[text]

Yesss, her answer had been right! And they weren't looking at bird guts at all! Emmeline breathed a sigh of relief that was kinda short-lived, 'cause Professor Vance gave them an assignment reallllly soon after everyone finished answering. Normally, she would love the chance to watch creatures, but this sort of thing sounded boring. Still, the second year trooped over to the box and grabbed a pair of omnioculars before following her classmates out to the pastures.

She had just held her omnioculars up to her eyes and gotten some parchment and stuff out when she saw an owl fly by. He wasn't flapping his wings AT ALL, which was kinda cool. Emmeline crouched down and flipped through her textbook until she found a name for that pattern, and then she dutifully scribbled the note on her parchment. The easiest and most fun part of all was sketching the barn owl she'd seen with his wings all spread out and not flapping like mad.

The next bird she saw was a small one, and he kinda seemed to be flying SUPER fast. It looked like he was flying in kind of a triangle pattern? Weeeird. Emmeline drew a picture of him too and then had to rifle through her textbook again to find the pattern's name.

As soon as she had lifted her omnioculars to her eyes, Emmeline scanned the grounds carefully for something cool. She had to wait SEVERAL minutes before she saw a hawk flying in a circle. Cooool! He was probably flying around looking for prey and stuff. Which was kinda sad to think about, but Emmeline sketched him and labelled his picture anyway.

Her last flying pattern was SUPER easy to spot; a load of ducks were flying in a V shape over by the lake. Yessss, she was DONE! Well, almost done. The second year sketched a quick picture of the ducks, labelled her picture, and trotted back inside the barn behind her classmates.

SPOILER!!: Emmeline's notes

I saw a cool barn owl flying without flapping his wings at ALL and the book says that that's a flap and glide.

There was a little bird flying in a Zigzag pattern 'cause he was going up and down and kind of flying in a triangle.

Thirdly, I saw a hawk soaring in a circle in Static Soaring formation.

Fourthly, I saw a bunch of ducks flying in V formation.

Annnd now was the time for loads of talking from the professor. Emmeline leaned her head on her hand and tried valiantly not to fall asleep. 'Cept it wasn't long before Professor Vance was pointing out the augureys and talking about them, and THAT made the Gryffindor pay close attention to her talking. As soon as the professor got to her question, Emmeline's hand shot up and she said, "Professor, what about phoenix song? 'Cause it makes people feel loads better and brings hope and stuff?" She grinned at the Divination professor, 'cause this lesson was suddenly cool. Now that magical creatures were gonna be more involved and stuff.

OH.

They were moving on?! Well...darn. Maddie had recorded ZERO out of the four recordings she was supposed to do. She quickly moved her quill into a writing position and jotted down some notes on what the professor had just said. At least she'd have something to turn in.

Name: Maddie Kemp
Bird Flights Seen:

--NONE RECORDED--

Sorry, Professor! Here are some notes I took to make up for my lack of assignment!

* Bouncy Flap and Glide: SURPRISES!
* Nose Dive: GO HERE FIRST!
* Circular, Hovering Pattern: GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN!

Maddie stopped writing and dashed to the professor's side when four random birds appeared. "HEYYYY, Susie, Romeo, Julia and Artreyu!" she said to the birds. Well, the professor had said to tell them hello. Whoooa, there were some interesting stories to tell about an Augurey! Maddie shifted her weight from one foot to the other then raised her hand. "People cry for LOTS of reasons, so maybe birds do, too!" she exclaimed. "They could be hungry or tired! They can be hurt or sad or just tired of moving around in patterns and wanting to settle in one place."

Oh! So there were actually four Augureys there, and they had been invisible! Vivian watched the four birds with eager eyes, but secretly hoped the four of them didn't start crying or singing any moment now. As much as she tried not to believe what some textbooks would say about certain creatures, the prefect wanted to be sure about it instead. So yes, Augureys, there will be no singing in the total duration of this class, please and thank you.

As for the question, Vivian tried imagining herself as one of the birds. What would cause her to cry? Why would she cry, in the first place? The first thought that fell into her head was to prank humans, which would have been funny. Honestly, she technically would do that, but she wasn't going to say that out loud. Instead, she raised her hand to share a more logical reason. "I think it could be useful for other things, Professor, like when someone or a different creature enters their territory, their cries would alert them to back off." Right?

Oh. Now they were looking at birds? Hattie really didn't get this lesson to be honest. She really could be using her time more wisely. Maybe she'd think about whether she came to the next lesson. At least she could drop the subject next year and use her time more wisely.

But since she was here, she figured she may as well answer the question. She tilted her head, trying to think of an answer. She listened to what her fellow students said, writing some notes, before she put her hand into the air. "Don't some birds, like owls for example, use their cry to let other fellow birds know that they are around?" She was sure that was owls hooted sometimes.

As Professor Vance spoke, Rhea took notes on what she was saying, adding to her existing notes. The interpretations of the birds' flight patterns somehow seemed both a little too on-the-nose and too far-fetched to her. Did it mean that, as she'd seen three of the mentioned patterns, her future held a path full of surprises, that she needed to value and trust her friends, and she'd have a clear path ahead. She certainly didn't feel like she had a clear path ahead. Surely she couldn't have all of those paths? Surprises and a clear path?

She looked up as four Auguries flew into view. They were gorgeous birds and Rhea almost cracked a smile.

But, of course, she didn't.

Instead, she carried on taking notes.

SPOILER!!: Rhea's notes

ORNITHOMANCY

Divination methods involving creatures
Geomancy – Scry with feathers
Ichthyomancy – Observes & interprets fish behaviour
Scatomancy – Animal poop ↝ ‘what’s to come’ in your future
Hippomancy – Hippogriff behaviour ↝ intuitive / horse behaviour ↝ neighing and stomping etc.
Ornithomancy – Birds ↝ behaviour, flight, cry and song
Alectryomancy – Interprets how roosters eat grain ↝ spread grain over letters ↝ yes/no question about future / how the roosters crown
Archanomancy – Spiders ↝ how they look, sizes & general behaviour
Ailuromancy – Cat movements & jumps ↝ predict weather
Myomancy – Rodent behaviour incl. mice
Scatomancy – Animal guts
Felidomancy – Cat behaviour & movements / sometimes called Zoomancy or Theriomancy
Uroscopy - Studies animal secretions ↝ colour, flow pattern etc. / helps healer identify disease ↝ future readings
Myrmomancy – Interprets ant or termite behaviour / sometimes calls Theriomancy or Zoomancy
Orniscopy – Bird formations
Scatomancy – Animal poop ↝ future readings
Apantomancy – Chance encounters with animals / Black cat superstition
Omens – Buzzard (danger or strife) / Grim in tea cup (danger or death) / Animals stampede ↝ omen of bad weather

Birds’ flight patterns:
Observation
Bird #1 – Exhibited a classic 'flap and glide' pattern. High in the sky
Birds #2 - Flew in a 'V Formation' across the sky
Bird #3 - Bird of prey? Glide & Hovering
Bird #4 - Undulating flight

Interpretations
Bouncy flap and glide / path: full of surprises
Nose dive / path: go head first into things
Circular, hovering / path: backtrack and retrace your steps
V formation / path: value and trust your friends
Zig-zag / path: let yourself by surprised by the direction your life takes
Gliding/hovering / clear path ahead

Augury (bird)
➙ Famous for mournful cry / believed to foretell death
➙ Ulric the Oddball / 50 Augureys cried in unison / thought he’d died so walked into a wall / it was just rainy & he was an idiot
➙ Augureys cry to foretell rain / wizards sometimes use them as weather forecasters

Rhea thought about the Professor's question as she finished up her notes. She didn't think that flight patterns were useful for anything beside indicating birds' migratory patterns and habits. Things like that, basically. But she tried to think of something about bird calls. Anything. She raised her hand. "I know of one species of bird that has individual calls that it uses to communicate with its young, so only their young knows to repeat it back to its mother. It's so the mother knows that there's not a cuckoo in the nest." Wow, what a lame answer. "But that's not really useful for us," she said, trying, quickly, to think of a better answer. "We make use of a canaries when we take them into mines. If they stop singing, we know it's not safe for us to follow." Heh. That was as good a contribution as she could make.

So, they would be focusing on birds today. Shay was fine with that and thankful that there would be no talk of spiders. She scribbled a few notes before turning her attention to the task at hand. Shay went up to the chest and retrieved omniculars. Then she went to grab her parchment, quill and book bag and headed for the pastures. This was going to be fun and she was actually looking forward to the assignment.

Once she arrived at the pastures, Shay took a moment to look for a good spot. Finding it, she sat down and glanced at her notes. She had to observe four flight patterns and document each one. Figuring she might as well get comfortable, Shay placed her book bag on the ground and laid back. She used the bag as a pillow and rested on her back. Omniculars in hand, she stared straight up into the sky. Hopefully this was a good day for flying.

Shay didn't have to wait very long before the first flock of birds appeared. Taking her quill and parchment, she began to draw what she was seeing. This was the formation that Shay was most familiar with and she always found it to be pretty amazing. A flock of geese, she thought, flew by in the v formation. She always tried to spot the moment when the lead bird would drop back and another bird would take its place. Now that was teamwork.

The next thing Shay saw was equally awesome. How had she never paid attention to anything but the V formation? An owl flew by and Shay wondered if he was delivering a message. The owl was gliding, going quite a distance before giving his wings a flap. Shay thought how cool it must be to soar along, above everything and everyone.

It was a busy day for flying apparently because the birds were coming fast and furiously. Shay barely had time to finish her second sketch, when she saw something new. A bird was flying, gliding without a flap in sight. How could he do this? The owl at least took a periodic flap. Shay looked down at her notes and surmised that this must be a swallow. He would have to flap sometime right? Shay was left to wonder as she made her drawing and the bird went out of sight.

Finally, Shay saw a very big hawk soaring in the sky. Just as her textbook said, it was flying in a circle with its huge wings spread wide. She wondered if the hawk was looking for food or just taking the bird version of a stroll. After sketching the birds pattern and making a few notes, Shay got up and packed her things. It was back to the class area for her.



When Shay joined her classmates, she looked over her notes for a moment. Then it was time for class to resume. Shay listened as Professor Vance described the interpretations for the various flight patterns. She jotted down the information in her notes, making sure not to miss any important details. Next, it was time to meet and learn about the Augurey. More notes were taken and then it was time for a question. Shay thought about it and raised her hand to answer.

"I think that bird flight patterns could definitely be used for other things. Animals are very sensitive to things in the environment, more so than humans I think. Maybe their flight patterns can foretell changes other than the coming of rain........weather in general, bad things coming, danger." it could be any number of things, Shay wasn't really sure.

Rhea was the last to offer up an answer and since none of the other students seemed eager to contribute more to discussion she felt it time to move on. Leaning a hand into the augurey's stall she let Julia hop on to her arm before she turned to face and speak to the students as she stroked the augurey over the feather. "Now then let's move on to our main practical portion since I think you've all by now have gotten some idea of what Ornithomancy is and I think you are more than ready to do some readings. What you'll need for this Ornithomancy reading is the help of an augurey, bird feed, plastic alphabet letters and a thought up yes/no question."

Here Laurel paused to with a few flicks of her wand make the needed materials appear on the floor in front of her feet and to allow the information to sink in. The alphabet letters were now visible in an open chest and dead flies, fairies and insects were lying in several baskets that gave off heavy smells. With the augurey still sitting on her arm laurel gestured for the students to come closer. "To perform the reading you need to form the words yes and no with the plastic letters on the ground and then put generous amounts of bird feed over the letters. When you've done that you need to think up a good yes or no question for tomorrow that you want the answer to then you voice it out loud mine would be 'Will I get a letter with tomorrow mornings post owls from Imogen Greyvson' then you have to release the augurey and watch which pile of bird feeding it goes for first because that will give you the answer to your question. You might need to coax the augurey into action, but they should be hungry since Prof Wayland hasn't fed them yet today." As she talked the letters formed themselves into words at her feet and flies and insects and fairys landed on top of the words and the augurey known as Julia flew down from Professor Vances arm and began to peck with intensity at the feeding over the no word.

A flash of disappointment crossed over Prof Vance's face as she said "How unfortunate maybe I'll hear back another day. Anway hop to it everyone Julia, Artreyu, Susie and Romeo are here to aid you with your readings. You've got 45 minutes to get your readings done!"

OOC: Main activity time! You've got until Wednesday September 20th at around 7pm to complete the activity before i wrap up the lesson. If it wasn't clear before then i say now catching up is always allowed throughout all my lessons until i've locked them.

Each house has their own augurey at their disposal that the students of that house would take turns with.

Artreyu - Hufflepuff
Julia- Ravenclaw
Romeo - Gryffindor
Susie- Slytherin

As Laurel explained above you need to perform these steps to be able get full activity credit for the ornithomancy reading in as many or as few posts as you want.

1. Fetch bird generous amounts of birds feeding and the plastic letters
2. Use the plastic letters to form the words YES and NO on the ground
3. Pile bird feeding over the formed words
4. Think up a good Yes/No question that your student wants the answer to and then say it out loud.
5. Release the 'house' augurey and if needed coax it into eating the food available and interpret what that means for your students asked question.

Have fun with this! Be creative! If you have any questions then don't hestiate to vm/pm or ask me in the lesson thread..

No. That was the simplest version of a response the Ravenclaw could give. It wasn't that the birds' flying or singing could predict the future but rather that they were analyzing a given situation and using their means of communication to convey it to others around them. If you asked her, that couldn't have had much bearing on the future, could it? Nah, definitely not.

As it stood, this question wasn't necessarily about the future, but rather their general use. She supposed she could come up with an answer in a case like that.

"I reckon they could be useful." She conceded. "Like when you see vultures circling, you know there's likely something dead in that direction. Depending on how you feel about that sort of thing, you can either head right over or make moves to end up in the other direction."

She would be moving toward them, no questions asked but there were some among them of a more skittish nature when it came to that sort of thing.

Blue eyes shifted to the birds the Professor had brought forth. They'd be....asking them about the future? Well then, it went back to her original thought. Seemed all this would do was provide an extra meal for the birds who'd no doubt be fat by the time they were done this lesson. All they had to do was eat, that's a real cushy job if you asked her.

Not wanting to put up much of a fuss, Jessa got herself some bird feed and moved right over to Julia. Hmm....what ridiculous question could she ask now? Perhaps something terribly wild or so mundane. Would the bird know she was being tricked?