# Photographing Crows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119 "2011-07-23T23:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Archeonomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Archeonomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archeonomist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/21 "2011-07-26T16:35:06Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Crows will remember you, will teach other crows who you are, and will go on the attack. With crowbars! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/22 "2011-07-26T16:42:57Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Nit pick. > > They’re actually colonies of seagulls. 😃 The preferred term is “a shitstorm” of seagulls. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/23 "2011-07-27T12:43:51Z")
> [@arnesw](#): > > With crowbars! They will use any tools they can get. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/24 "2011-07-27T23:08:48Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > It is perfectly legal to shoot crows here in Oregon, there is even a season, from Oct 1st to Jan 31st. > > You need a hunting license but no game bird stamp. Shotgun, archery or falcon only, no rifles. > > And you can shoot as many as you want, there is no bag limit. You can murder a murder of them. Reported to taste like I’ve always wondered where the origin of “murder of crows” came from. I know it means a group of crows, or a flock of crows. But, if I had to take a guess, the term was proably coined from the post medieval battle fields of Europe during the middle ages. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/25 "2011-07-28T18:16:40Z")
No one quite knows where the term “murder of crows” comes from; the OED lists its origin as uncertain. The first know use was in [1450](http://www.takeourword.com/TOW173/page2.html). According to the folks over at [wordorigins](http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/78/#541), even that isn’t a primary source - in fact there isn’t a primary source for the phrase at all. It seems to have disappeared from the English language entirely until it resurfaced in the 1930’s, alongside such [unlikely collective nouns](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/crow-facts/5965/) as an ostentation of peacocks, a parliament of owls, a knot frogs, and a skulk of foxes. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/26 "2011-07-28T18:23:32Z")
You’re okay if the crow signs a waiver though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/27 "2011-07-28T18:32:41Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Let’s leave the law out of this, and work on whether it is a [good idea:](http://io9.com/5816511/science-shows-that-crows-are-the-biker-gangs-of-the-sky) > > Crows will remember you, will teach other crows who you are, and will go on the attack. They are smart and evil. Don’t mess with them. Those little peckers will remember your car, too. The one in my neighborhood does anyway… flits away every time I try to run him down. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119/28 "2011-07-28T20:09:03Z")
All this time I thought the OP was talking about cows. Crows: no problem. But cows believe you’re stealing their souls, and that’s no bull. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photographing-crows/590119.md?page=1)