“What do crows symbolize?” auto-populates the search field just behind “What do crows eat?” Many cultures have associated crows with death. Their uniformly black coloring, their harsh cries, their taste for roadkill—all may have contributed to that most famous of collective names among birds, a murder of crows. Crows have been observed conducting “funerals” for fallen flock mates, and this somber ritual may account for the gloomy associations, too. But other cultures have associated the birds with intelligence and adaptability, even transformation, and these are the connections I’ll rely on as
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