Naturally this arouses envy among certain hominids, disguised as aesthetic displeasure: "People tend not to like crows, because they have this fiendish look to them and they're black and they like dead prey."
Crows are the family totem animal of Fleck y Breen.
(Original link via Alan Sullivan.)
This really doesn't surprise me greatly; the local jays are extremely well organized, and what crows we have seem to have an extensive social network.
Posted by: CGHill on August 18, 2007 03:35 PM
Blue jays? I remember watching blue jays in Florida who would gang up for the purpose, so it appeared, of teasing the cat. Probably young males sitting around bored, egging each other on: "Hey, come on, let's go mess with Felix's head!" At first glance the behavior looked like regular nest-protection, but it seemed too calculated. The birds would take turns dive-bombing and seemed to be cutting it close (dare ya, double-dog dare ya). Usually they got away with it, but at least once our old tom Lambert got in a quick lethal swipe.
Posted by: Moira on August 19, 2007 07:48 AM