A Murder of Crows

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson

Glenn Simpson, Executive Director. Golden Gate Audubon

I was raised in the high prairie of Montana, very near the Crow Indian reservation. While growing up a boy under the Big Sky I became fascinated­– as boys once did– with the plains Indians and their culture.

When we played cowboys and Indians, I was an Indian.

But one thing puzzled me about my Crow Indian neighbors. Why, I wondered, did they name their tribe after a pesky black bird that nobody seemed to like having around. Why not name the tribe Eagles, Bears or Wolverines?

It wasn’t until much later that I learned how intelligent, demanding, and even domineering a murder of crows can be. I now know why my neighbors named their tribe after a bird that is intelligent, demanding and domineering. In fact, I now believe that “Crow” is the perfect name for one’s tribe!

This awakening is something I am certain the city fathers and mothers of Sunnyvale are learning, because a murder of crows has moved into town and the murder is not about to be moved out. This leads most everyone in town to ask:

Once a murder of crows moves in, can it be moved out?