In the Santa Clara County I was told we are over-run by crows and there is talk afoot about culling the murder (which is the proper term for a flock of crows) down to a more reasonable number. I thought it was much ado about nothing. Yea, I normally see five or six on my street at one time. Crows are part of the Corvid family of birds. Corvids are Ravens, Blue Jays and Crows. They are the smartest birds, I would wager that there are some Ravens and even Crows out there smarter than some of our, well most of, our elected officials. And as snarky as that sounds, you know I'm right. "poor people just need jobs in order to stop being poor." I read of a raven that could, on the second try, figure out how to pull up a bit of meat through an intricate set of pulleys. Being omnivores they will clean up the roadkill faster than the street cleaners, that due to budget cuts, come once every other year it seems like (In my neighborhood anyway).
I was driving home from work and was watching the greying rainy sky wondering when the next downpour would break when I noticed several, like forty or more, crows crossing over the freeway over to a small cluster of trees to roost for the night. I enjoy watching birds fly with just a little green in my eyes because I've always wanted to fly like them. I inched along with the traffic but I never took my eyes off the sky. Forty quickly turned into eighty and then hundred and then more and more, it never seemed to end. My mind flashed to those scenes in vampire movies when the unsuspecting dinner guests disturb Vlad's pets, blocking the moonlight in an ominous warning of pending doom. I actually had to drive out from under the winged migration but it was still going long after I drove away. As much as I hate the idea of killing something intelligent and beautiful, it might just be time for a murder of crows.
