Understanding the neighborhood crow: Some say that we are children of the large-beaked bird

There are many different species of birds in Beaverton that many don’t know the names of, but everyone seems to easily recognize the Crow. More than 20,000 Crows roost every night in Portland, but they spend the day foraging in the suburbs—many hundreds of them in Beaverton alone.

Although their loud cawing can be irritating, it does seem overkill to call a gathering of these birds a “murder of Crows”. But that is what our medieval ancestors called a group of these black feathered avians. At that time, Crows were associated with death. On ancient battlefields, Crows scavenged the bodies of slain soldiers. Their all-black plumage was reminiscent of funeral attire.

Why are Crows so tolerant of our close proximity? One reason is that Crows were here first — we are actually latecomers to their realm. Crows, together with Ravens, Magpies and Jays, belong to the family of corvidae. Crows and Ravens evolved about 20 million years ago, and the American Crow became its own species about 5 million years ago. In contrast, anatomically modern humans (Homo Sapiens) first appeared in Africa around 300,000 years ago and reached North America less than 26,000 years ago.

The Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest honored the Raven more than the Crow: after all the trickster Raven stole the sun, moon, and stars from the Sky Chief and gave them to humans. But all Native Americans were quite aware of the Crow.

Children of the Large Beaked Bird: One tribe in the Midwest called themselves Apsáalooke, meaning “Children of the Large Beaked Bird”: the Crow. Anglos also took the bird into their culture. To travel in a straight line is to go “as the Crow flies”. The Raven, as Edgar Allan Poe pointed out, stops to tap on chamber doors. On the great ships sailing to America, the Crow’s Nest was the uncomfortable platform where a lonely sailor strained his eyes to sight land.

Crow’s feet are the skin creases at the corners of our eyes—unwanted signs of age. To “eat Crow” is to admit, often shamefacedly, that one has made a mistake. In contrast, “to Crow about” is more upbeat—one is proclaiming a win, a triumph, a success. That achievement may have required you to “get up with the Crows”. That certainly suggests hard work because Crows wake and become active at dawn. To be “up with the Lark” you would have been out of bed even earlier: Larks start singing before the sun even rises.

Then there is the awful use of the word in a phrase, which we should try to expunge: “Jim Crow” —the systematic discrimination against, and the denigration of African Americans after the American Civil War. Crows do not discriminate between any human groups.

Crows are like humans: they are social and intelligent. The group of Crows in your front yard is telling each other about local dangers and food supplies. They have learned and remembered that cars race along the road, but not over lawns. They know and recognize the person who puts out food. They know many humans are harmless and can be ignored. They have been here five million years, and they will probably still be here when we have long gone away.

Tony Woodward is a retired physician with four wonderful grandchildren. Likes walking and hiking in the Columbia Gorge and around Beaverton, enjoying nature, particularly watching birds. Spends a lot of time reading and reviewing books, especially on art and history.