I witnessed a murder this weekend while visiting a friend in Minneapolis

[Joe Nation]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Emile (a host of the General Discussion forum).

It turned to be about a dozen crows fighting over the contents of a discarded fast food bag in a parking lot.

In retrospect, I may have merely witnessed an unkindness.

After all, it is hard for most of to tell the difference between crows and ravens.

[stopdiggin]

1. if there were a dozen

(or close to that number) chances are pretty good crows. More inclined to run in packs. We have a good number of both - and I'm constantly asking myself the same question.

[intrepidity]

3. Same here, although juvenile ravens will run in packs

I know their vocal differences, though.

[3Hotdogs]

7. Ravens, mostly in pairs.

[Orrex]

2. I once mistook a crow for a raven

Nevermore.

[Beastly Boy]

5. Once upon a morning dreary, mistakes happen.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. I just have blackbirds and starlings. nt

[womanofthehills]

6. Ravens will occasionally run in large packs

Lots of ravens where I live - high desert NM. Usually 2 visit everyday for food but one time I had about 40 walking all around my fish pond.

[panader0]

9. Same here. high desert Az. Lots of ravens, no crows. I seem to recall that you're near Mountainair.

I'm outside Sierra Vista in Cochise County, 4650 feet, mountains all around. I love the area where you live.
The little towns on the east side of the Sandias like Torreon, Tajique, Chilili and Madrid. I could live there.

[RainCaster]

8. Ravens have a very different voice

[haele]

10. Ravens are twice the size of Crows and have a beak more like a raptor.

They also have a deep, booming croak rather than just a series of caws.

I stored my pick-up in a friend's side yard under a fig tree for a week, when I came back, three ravens the size of large seagulls were perched along the side; they had turned the tarp over the bed of my truck into a fruit salad bowl for figs, palm dates, natal plums, and assorted nuts.
They also glared and croaked at me with enough threat we got a sturdy cardboard box and emptied the tarp into it so I wouldn't obviously be stealing their treats when I left.
We sweetened the fruits with peanuts and assorted peaches and plums before we could remove the truck.

If it looks like it can pick up a rat or squirrel, it's a raven.

Haele

[Hortensis]

11. :) They're great birds. Some crow families had a major battle

a couple weeks ago in the woods on our south slope, presumably over territory. Unfortunately, we couldn't see because the trees were leafed out, but it went on for the better part of two hours and was so loud we had to close all the windows.

Good thing for us the "murders" mostly tend to be "shy" (hah! for that word) of people, but we regret it too.

[Marthe48]

12. You know why you don't see dead crows on the road?

Because if a vehicle is coming, some of them yell "Caw! Caw!

[Emile]

13. After an alert and discussion with the hosts, locking thread.

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