Just received this from Tom Cox:

"Dear Mr Roylance;
"I enjoyed your article about the city crows. It made me recall when during the '40s & '50s a friend and I spent countless hours trying to lure them within shotgun range on his farm. Back then they were only protected by their own craftiness and natural avoidance of man. The only thing that would bring them closer was was a great horned owl decoy, or the live owl we used. They would even spook if you walked out side with a broomstick ! But that was then and now they appear to have adapted and coexist with us.
"I would like to bring to your attention to another roosting bird, that although fewer in number, is probably even more of a mess. Right now during winter, over a hundred buzzards begin to roost in the vicinity of the Hernwood Elementary School on Marriotsville Road in Baltimore County. Sometimes in trees 150 yards down the road, or on and around the house across the street; also on the water tank next to the Liberty Road Volunteer Fire House a half a mile away out on Liberty Road.
"It is quite a sight, they are BIG birds ! Thanks for interesting reporting. - Tom Cox, Hernwood"

That is an awesome picture. The Sun doesn't happen to make their picures available for sale, do they?

FR: Silly question. Yes, of course. Go to the bottom of the main Web page, and look for "Sun Store" under "Resources." Or just follow this link: http://bit.ly/4SomzU The original story and photos ran Sunday, Dec. 6. Thanks.

Frank - I loved your original story too. I wonder if you've read about the Crow Box?
http://www.crowboxunleashed.com/

FR: I have now. What a cool idea. Imagine enlisting crows to search for dropped coins, and using the proceeds for some charity. Thanks.

My dad has told a story of when he was in school in Colorado, of walking home after school one day and being greeted by a crow sitting on a fence. The bird had been tamed, and "taught" to speak, similar to a parrot, I would imagine. I don't remember the details, but I know my dad was impressed by the intelligence.

frank--my father and his friend robbed a crow's nest and brought home a newly hatched one for us kids as a pet. we named him smokey. they split his tongue so he could talk. he got his foot stuck once in a chain-link fence and sat there yelling "help" 'till we freed him. if any ladies wore a hat on sundays he would dive bomb them. he used to fly up to our elementary school, fly in an open window and visit us in class. one year, a new principal, had him "arrested" and he was lost to us for a year. then one day my father and his friend took my brother and I to the movies to see "one-eyed jacks" with marlon brando. after the movie was over my dad wanted to stop in the pet store next door to the movie house to see if by any chance they had any pet crows for sale. we walked in and there was one full-grown crow sitting in a cage. when my father walked in the crow started squawking to beat the band. the owner of the store said that the spca had brought him in a year ago because he was bothering some school. it was smokey.
the store owner gave him back to us for free when he realized the crow was really ours and later on we gave him to my father's friend because we were moving. we didn't move far though--from alexandria to bowie--and eventually we got smokey back. he lived to be twenty-seven years-old. he died one morning when my father got home from work (he was a pressman for the washington post for thity years. when my dad walked into the utility room to check on him--we had been keeping him inside to stay warm because he dad been ill--my dad said smokey looked up at him as if he was waiting for someone and then died.
crows make wonderful pets.

I swear they have a sense of humor -- I was walking down the alley between a building on one side and a high wall on the other. There had just been a snowfall and there was about 4-6" piled on the parapet of the wall. Suddenly - plop! - a pile of snow landed on my head! I looked up and there were three crows peering over the parapet, just like kids - "Let's see if we got her". They flew away and I swear they were laughing.

FR: Good one. Thanks!

There are crows who roost between the Reisterstown and Roger subway stations. There are so many that at first look it appears to be leaves on the trees at night. They come when it gets dark, hang around for a few hours and then appear to head east. I wonder if they are the same ones that roose at The Alameda and Loch Raven?

FR: Sounds like a staging area, perhaps for Loch Raven. It would be interesting to follow them some evening. Anyone care to volunteer and report back?

I'm curious about the birds' travels but I can't follow them. Years ago, I hung around the Reisterstown and Rogers area one evening. My car looked like it had polka dots when I left the area. I took it to the carwash before I went to work. I had to go through twice. Fortunately the guys had a heart and didn't charge me for the second wash. I'll follow your post to see if anyone was up for the challenge.

I'm curious to know how a large group of crows came to be known as a "murder"? Anyone have any insights into this unusual term?

FR: The origin of this term, like that of many other colorful collective nouns, seems to be a topic of considerable debate. And skepticism. A "scrum" of etymologists. http://bit.ly/4ENSZs Here, for what it's worth, is more from Wikipedia: http://bit.ly/CbfsA

I work at the Woodbourne Center on Woodbourne Avenue between The Alameda and Loch Raven. The crows nest in the woods on our property.

Every afternoon at about 4:00, you see them start to arrive. It's so loud and a bit creepy. The Chinquapin Run goes through our property and there is actually a lot of wildlife living back there. The kids here were telling me about counting 14 deer on the playing fields one evening.

While I greatly enjoyed reading people's posts regarding our amazing animal friends (I am the owner of 2 (non-wild) captive-rasied parrots), I was horrified and sickened to read of animal mutilation (splitting a crow's toungue?!!?) and stealing a bird mother's babies as pets. Wild animals should NEVER be pets and should NEVER be harmed in order to allegedly "serve" or "entertain" any person. Birds that have the ability to talk will only do so if they want to, and mutilating their body parts has no effect on this, or their genetic speaking ability - and only results in physical and emotional trauma to the bird - possibly even death! Ignorance is no excuse! You have now been informed - and I hope no one go tries foolishly to capture a crow for a pet because that would be animal cruelty - let them be in nature, and flying, where they belong with their intelligent crow families!

The main reason that most hunters don' t like crows is that the crows are smarter than they are!

Shame on you for not publishing my piece about my shock over the animal cruelty stories you allowed posted, but apparently declined to publish my "rebuttal". If you did not want the crow story to elicit controversy - you should never have allowed/glorified the stories of tongue mutilation and nest robbing!

FR: Ms. Lewis, I have posted everything I received from you for this string. If you believe you sent something that I did not post, try sending it again.

There have been some wonderful stories posted in recent years about the Crow Family. They are the ONLY bird species to live in extended families all their lives. They can recognize PEOPLE from 100 miles up and know us by face - whether we rob their nests (or get near them) or are kind to them, etc... I cannot remember the original article where I read the piece - may have been Sunday Washington Post? So please forgive me for not having it to post. The Crow is a wonderful species for which I have truly grown to love after learning more about it.

AND I think the "Smokey" story was great, although I also cringed a little about the robbing of the baby crow-- However during that time period, such things were done. Time and place should always be considered before lashing out at the story teller by the "Nouveau Environmentalist" who now seem to abound the Internet with great fervor of voice.