Not too many other birds carry quite the stigma and reputation as this week’s subject, by far our most abundant of winged neighbors in the region, the American Crow. Crows are members of the Corvidae family, which include ravens, magpies and all manner of jays. Corvids are among the most intelligent of all birds, and crows and ravens tend to rank highest in their “class,” being placed next to chimpanzees in terms of smarts.

Crows have been documented as using tools such as utilizing twigs to poke into holes for food, and captives have been observed using a cup to scoop up water for the purpose of moistening dry food. They are also incredibly vocal, using over 240 different calls, and their cousins the ravens can even be taught to speak. They have even been observed holding a “funeral” or “wake” for other dead crows, gathering in numbers and cawing loudly, either potentially as a type of mourning, or possibly communicating to each other the cause of death in the event of a predatory attack.

They are known to be proficient in facial recognition, discovered after a study where a small handful of birds were netted by scientists and students wearing caveman masks, then later released. After the capturing, whenever anyone in the area of the study wore a caveman mask, the crows would call out warnings and sometimes even attack the mask wearer. Not only were they announcing the potential danger, but they had also communicated this danger and its physical appearance to all of the other crows in the area.

Crows tend to congregate in large family units, as well as sharing in even larger unrelated flocks. They mate for life, and family units can have as many as five years of members in them. Being that they typically don’t mate until at least three to five years of age, oftentimes the younger members will assist in the rearing of chicks as well as food gathering. They are incredible opportunists when it comes to foraging, and while they do scavenge as a carnivore, much of their food comes from more readily available sources, and among humans this often translates to trash and even pet food left outside. They are not hunters, and their beaks are notoriously dull, so much so that they have to wait for another animal (or car) to open a carcass before they can feast.

The colloquial term for a group of crows is, as the title of this week’s article mentions, a murder. The phrase dates back as far as the 15th century and has a number of possible roots in its origins. Superstitions claimed that gatherings of crows were an omen of someone’s death. Also, being scavengers of carcasses, they can gather in great numbers over the food source, enticing the naming even though they were not the actual killer of said dinner.

Last, but certainly not least, the term came from a time when all manner of animals were given flowery and poetic names for their gatherings (an ostentation of peacocks, a smack of jellyfish, a parliament of owls, etc). Regardless of any of these names, from the standpoint of science, the name used, as with any other bird, is a flock.

The “murder” seen in this week’s image is quite possibly simply one family that was found eagerly gathered around their breakfast, a dumpster at a local business that had been left open overnight. They took turns alternating diving into the glorious buffet for a bite, or sitting on the fence keeping watch for potential danger. With my presence already well known to them as town paparazzi (aforementioned facial recognition quite easily done when one often has a large camera/lens attached to one’s face…), they tolerated my attending the grand feast, chortling and cawing away delightfully as the Sunday morning brunch commenced.

For information about James DeWalt Photography, check out https:// jamesdewaltphotography.com.

[Additional information for this article came from, https://www.audubon.org/ news/10-fun-facts-about-american-crow, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/a-murder of-crows-crow-facts/5965/, https:// www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/ qa-why-are-groups-of-crows-called-murders/ 2117170/#:~:text=Officially%2C%20 a% 20group% 20of% 20crows, century% 2C%20according%20to%20various%20 sources.]