In praise of crows...

[AndyRM]

At work, I saw a crow fly down next to two others, and pull the leg out from under the nearest. Oh, how they all laughed. (Or cawed)

Crowed, Shirley?

 

[buggi]

I've moved a couple of fledglings away from danger (hence my title!) They have the most amazing blue eyes at that age.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

It is good to see some corvid love. I have always had a soft spot for them. Clever and quick to learn. A bloke up the road rescued a young jackdaw once and it followed him everywhere.

 

[JoeyB]

I quite like crows, they are my favourite bird for some reason.

 

[vernon]

They aren't that clever.....

Transport for Scotland found over 200 dead crows on the M74 near Larkhall recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the bird's beaks and claws. By analyzing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with lorry's, while only 2% were killed by cars.
Transport for Scotland then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviorist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "Lorry!"

 

[Gravity Aided]

I am sitting near one, right now.
Act natural.

 

[Crackle]

I like crows, they've got presence and gravitas, plus they look good in profile

 

[Bollo]

I am sitting near one, right now.
Act natural.

If it's Brother Crow, GA, run! Run like the wind!!!!

 

[Gravity Aided]

He went over to the Volvo Dealer lot. Another successful CycleChat rescue!

 

[slowmotion]

I'm fond of crows but I don't see many in London. When I was staying in Peterborough, I would see them every day commuting to a rubbish dump. You could set your watch by their comings and goings. Unlike a lot of birds, they don't seem to have a set formation when in flight but flop about in a faintly chaotic fashion. It's quite endearing.
BTW, how did a group of them come to be known as "A Murder of Crows"?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Crows are great, they've got that kind of "what the f*ck are you looking at, pal?" way about them.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

BTW, how did a group of them come to be known as "A Murder of Crows"?

Probably something to do with their ability to be one of the first birds on the scene of a dead body (animal or human) but that is just a guess!

 

[Spinney]

This is the USA story referred to in the BBC link in the first post, I think.
http://www.earthporm.com/girl-gets-gifts-from-crows/