A Murder of Crows

 

The Crows of Vancouver

   We have children living in Vancouver and when visiting them we always notice the crows. They are seen on the lawns and the picture above taken at one son's house, could have been duplicated at the other's. They are even more noticeable at the end of the day when thousands of them, like many other commuters, head for the suburbs. In the crows'  case, the destination is an office park in Burnaby where they will perch and poop. 

   We have been unable to visit because of the pandemic and when we were last there we had to leave prematurely because of the pandemic. I thought of the crows because of a recent article profiling Mr. Fidel Eligan, an immigrant from the Philippines, whose job it is to clean up after the crows. He is a fine fellow who gets up very early to ride his bike to Burnaby where, "the slight senior dons a hazmat suit, straps a 15-kilogram tank to his wiry back and spends hours spraying the lobbies, hallways and staircases his company is subcontracted to clean." Because of the pandemic, Mr. Eligan has been unable to visit his family back in the Philippines so "he has opted to take on an overtime shift disinfecting the buildings in the same office park each weekend." He remarks that "Maybe no crow, maybe me, no work," he says with a chuckle on a recent morning. "I enjoy the crows." The last sentence in the article is this one: "I'm always happy," he says of his life." We should all be so happy. 

   You may have read the article and know about the crows of Vancouver. If not, I will provide some good sources about them below. The subject will now change to the title - The Murder of Crows.

Nouns of Assemblage or Terms of Venery

   Oddly enough, there is not one term to refer to for a collection or group of things. The two above are often used along with, "Nouns of Multitude", "Group Terms" or "Collective Nouns", the last of which also has a more specific grammatical meaning. The need for such terms was noticed long ago and many of them were developed by those out hunting who required words for their descriptions. What does one call a large ???? of pheasants. That is how 'murder' came to be applied to crows, 'bouquet' to pheasants and 'skulk' to foxes. To learn more about all of this, turn to An Exaltation of Larks or, The Venereal Game by James Lipton. Venereal terms in this instance, generally refer to hunting and not what you are thinking. 

   Apart from the real 'nouns of assemblage', etc., there are imaginary ones invented by people such as you. The ones related to lawyers are likely to be unprintable in this family-friendly blog, but here are a few for those in the medical profession: "A Brace of Orthopedists", "A Rash of Dermatologists", "A Pile of Proctologists", and "A Smear of Gynecologists". One could go on, for example: "A Flush of Plumbers," "A Piddle of Puppies," "A Wince of Dentists" or A Column of Accountants." Assemble your own or invite a 'Batch of Buddies' or 'Circle of Crones' over to play a game which involves the creation of colourful venereal terms. 

Sources:

   For the article about Mr. Eligan and the Burnaby crows see: "How Do You Clean Up After a Murder of Crows," Mike Hager, The Globe and Mail, April, 5, 2021. A related video is found on YouTube.

   For additional information about the Vancouver roosts see:

"Crows of Vancouver: The Middle Way Between Biophobia and Biophilia," Christine Thuring. 

"Here's Where the Crows of Vancouver End Up Roosting Every Night," Bob Kronbauer.
The UBC Botanical Garden reveals "Why Are Crows Ruining my Lawn?"

   There are also roosts closer to home. For example:

"Ontario Towns Caw Over Noisy Crows," CBC.

"A Night Spent With Woodstock's Crow Man," Chatham Daily News, Tara Bowie.

It's Not Just Your Imagination: Why a Murder of 10,000 Crows Takes Over Ottawa in the Winter," PostMedia News, Jan.19, 2017.

  The always interesting Atlas Obscura contains a good piece: "An Ostentation of Peacocks, and Other Flowery Ways Medieval Hunters Grouped Birds," Eric Grundhauser, Nov. 24, 2015. 

   For another good article, with pictures and examples: "Collective Nouns for Birds: Why We Call It a Murder of Crows, Murmuration of Starlings and a Conspiracy of Ravens?" Paula Lester, Country Life, Jan. 13, 2020. 

For books, in addition to An Exaltation of Larks see:

A Conspiracy of Ravens: A Compendium of Collective Nouns for Birds, Bill Odie.

A Charm of Goldfinches and Other Wild Gatherings: Quirky Collective Nouns of the Animal Kingdom, Matt Sewell.

A Murmuration of Starlings, Steve Palin.

and

 A Barrel of Monkeys: A Compendium of Collective Nouns For Animals. (Like The Conspiracy of Ravens, this one was assembled by the Bodleian Library.)