Woah there Crowsie
Magpies are cunts. I saw two magpies bullying a beautiful crow in Sheffield.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:37, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Magpies and Carrion Crows are often seen competing for territory
and generally don't get on. However, they are all still corvids, and so I must show concern for the welfare of all of them. Because a crow would know.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:39, Reply)

No
They were bullying it.
They're eeeeevil.

Are Jackdaws corvids?
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:40, Reply)

They are.
Corvus monedula, so more closely related to carrion crows (corvus corone) than magpies (pica pica).

The one with the best Latin name is the Rook, however: corvus frugilegus.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:42, Reply)

Jackdaws are sexy

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:42, Reply)

With their cute, pert little beaks and grey facial plumage
I was given a book called Crow Country, ostensibly some photographer's memoirs about the time he spent in Norfolk watching huge flocks of jackdaws and rooks. You'd have thought such a book would be right up my alley. It's just a shame it was fucking boring.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:44, Reply)

And piercing blue eyes
I think they're humans turned into birds by witches.
Someone just saw me looking at Jackdaws and suggested I take a look at a grackle.
Not as sexy as a Jackdaw.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:46, Reply)

I'd never realised they had blue eyes before!
(Baby carrion crows also have blue eyes, which is very cute)

I agree about the grackle - pretty plumage, and very crow-like in appearance, but just not quite in the same league.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:48, Reply)

It says they're white on Wikipedia
but whatever, the overall effect is icy blue.
Look at this factoid:
The sentence "Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz" is a commonly used example of a pangram, (i.e. a sentence that contains all 26 letters of the English alphabet), while the sentence itself is only 31 letters long.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:51, Reply)

The main picture on their wiki article is a particularly sexy specimen
I'm tenting just looking at it.

And the one further down the page, of the jackdaw in Bushy Park, is as good as any of those 'ORLY' owls.

Like the pangram. I shall have to find a way to use that more often in conversation.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 13:57, Reply)

Hoorah

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 22 Jul 2010, 14:02, Reply)