Hawk and Crow collide

I sat on my front steps the other day. The sun danced through the tittering leaves on the maple tree that takes up most of our front yard and the cool breeze tickled my skin. A hint of autumn scented the air. The neighborhood was peaceful, sleepy almost, though it was late afternoon.

Squirrels skittered about, leaping and bounding through the tall grass of our yard and the weeds that line the neighbors house. From somewhere behind me I heard an uncommon sound split the calm, the distinct screeching of a raptor which was quickly answered by the caw of a crow. The small animals scurried up trees and under bushes as the haunting sounds echoed between the houses.

Then, from the corner of my eye I caught the motion- a crow swooped from the side of my home, a hawk right on its tail-feathers. Awed, I watched as the hawk descended, talons outstretched to scratch along the back of the crow. Both animals released their cries and every critter in the neighborhood coward from the aerial battle.

They dove behind my neighbors house and though I tried to follow them, they moved so quickly that I lost them amongst the trees.

I pondered the entire occurrence, which was like nothing I had ever seen before. Formidable birds rarely seen together locked in a race, a battle, for what? Some delightful morsel? It's too late in the year for the protection of young and nests. What could possibly have triggered this?

For some reason the book The Native American Medicine Wheel popped into my head. I read it ages ago and loaned it to someone, never to see it again. In the days since the battle I've been thinking about this more and more. A friend who is very much into lore, and another who holds to superstitions and omens, believe this was something meant specifically for me to witness. They believe it was not merely a random act of nature that I was blessed to watch but a message designed specifically for me.
Their belief became even more amplified once I told them that I was born into the Medicine Wheel month/moon of the Crow.

Using my astute powers of Google-fu, I have been able to locate information on the Medicine Wheel Animals.

First, what I already knew:

The Crow-
The crow is intelligent, creative, an adapter (shifter)/change, balance, just and a diplomat. A carrier of messages and spiritual energy.
No matter what mythology, a Crow is a powerful symbol of change, and usually of (good) luck.

Here is what I didn't know,

The Hawk is on the exact opposite side of the wheel from the Crow, representing healing, vision and perspective, guardianship.
Hawk helps you see things from a new perspective, to take a break when you're too close to an issue and step back long enough to gain a different perspective.
"If you seek mental clarity on an emotional problem that you can't see your way around, the hawk will help you to zero in on the crux of the issue and work through it."~~Stefanie Weiss, Spirit Animals: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Animal Companions

So I watched the symbol for perspective and healing rake on the back of change, forcing it to move forward, flying harder...toward something or just in an escape?

Looking it up did nothing to help clarify things in my life, symbolically speaking, but it's given me much to ponder and was an incredible sight to behold.