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Crows make a perfect Spotlight subject. Most of the eight UK species – that’s Carrion Crow, Hooded Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Raven, Chough, Magpie and Jay – are very familiar birds to urban householder and countryside dweller alike. Together they make up the Corvidae family, and have been deeply intertwined in our lives and culture since prehistoric times. Familiarity often breeds contempt, however, and crows – also known as corvids – have long attracted a bad press. Indeed, reviled as raiders of crops, feeders on carrion, thieves of jewellery and bullies of smaller birds, they have often found themselves on the wrong end of a shotgun. Yet the more we learn about crows, the more fascinating they become. Behind the behaviour that we find objectionable lies an exceptional intelligence and resourcefulness – qualities that have long captivated scientists and excited the admiration of anyone who takes the time to know crows better. It has also embedded these birds deep in our culture: from children’s rhymes to Norse mythology, Shakespeare’s plays and the poems of Edgar Allen Poe.
