Donna Hobson

Jungle crow (Close-up of the head area), Tennōji Park, Osaka. (Photo: Wikimedia/Laitche)

What do you call a group of crows?

A murder of crows. The collective term is not endearing. So why? Thank medieval hunting tradition and the expansion of the English language.

For thousands of years, Europeans had no clue about where birds went during Winter. Until 1822, when a German hunter shot a stork and discovered an 80cm long African spear protruding from its neck. This provided the first evidence of bird migration to Africa.

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