Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications Photos by Kaeli Swift, University of Washington's School of Environmental & Forest Sciences Crows are awesome birds—and they are also awesomely misunderstood. What better time then, during October’s “spooky season”, to set the record straight! Crows are social and family-oriented birds that are extremely protective of each other—especially their offspring. If you've been swooped or scolded by one during nesting season, you know exactly what we mean! They communicate using various caws, scolds, croaks, comb-calls, whistles and clicks. But despite their obvious intelligence, crows and other birds in the Corvidae family (which also includes ravens, jays, magpies, rooks) have gotten a bad rap! In some cultures, crows and ravens have long been associated with negative concepts including bad luck, evil spirits and omens of death. The fact that a group of crows is called a “murder” doesn’t really help their reputation either. But what doe...