Twig collector

charge it for illegal collection if not illegal, collect relevant taxes :)

Seeing a crow at the start of the day means bad luck, I wonder if that applies to pictures of the bird.

That is a brilliant picture of a brilliant bird - look at that beak! Well done Shizuo san!

Nesting time eh ?!

Lovely picture, lovely bird.

Yes, lovely photo.

The bird's jet black plumage shines like onyx.

Beautiful bird, and a stunning shot. Kudos to the photographer.

That is a brilliant picture of a brilliant bird - look at that beak! Well done Shizuo san!

I think you mean Kambayashi-san.

The Crow has been noted by modern science to be rather intelligent when tested. The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) which is a member of the Corvidae family or in it's higher classification a crow is is of the same family as the Ravens found in and around the Tower of London, it has special protection in law. tradition said they protect the crown and the Tower. The Rook in the game of Chess, which predates Britain monarchy, is also known as the Tower. In the very ancient world the Egyptians of the African continent knew and revered them enough to weave them into the astrological science.

Seeing a crow at the start of the day means bad luck, I wonder if that applies to pictures of the bird.

perhaps that's the reason some posters are afraid and appreciating it (!)

Flying rats.

I like crows. They are apparently as intelligent as an average 6 year old child. Not rats, more flying ferrets.

My 3rd floor office has a large ledge on which I often leave peanuts for the college crow community. Seeing them swoop up so close is thrilling; that ridge they have on their forehead makes them look very regal and intelligent.

Those who can't appreciate this clever, elegant and resourceful bird deserve a good crow bombing.

Jimize:

" Those who can't appreciate this clever, elegant and resourceful bird "

Rats are also clever and resourceful. Elegant, that is in the eye of the beholder.

Apparently, a lot of posters don't like people who admire an intelligent bird... BTW, it IS nesting time (maybe Japanese married couples should take the hint and start a "nest" of their own...?) When I used to walk my dog in the park, we often experienced "close calls" from crows "protecting" their young. They swooped right down at us, barely missing our heads. It was actually quite scary !

Iam not a big fan of crow or rooks, why? well they peck out the eyes of baby lambs whilst they are still alive thus killing a new born lamb.

Jimizo, crows truly are clever, elegant and resourceful.

In Sapporo we had pet crows.

We would put any uneaten cat food on a saucer and hold it out. The crows would come and take it - even if my wife or I were holding it. And it was always the same crows. Evidently, they had decided amongst themselves that that particular crow family had the right to eat at Bertie's.

"But how can you know it was the same crows? Surely they all look alike!"

Actually, they don't. They have individual faces just as we do.

The next year, they brought their kids. They were smaller and cheekier, so I presume they were the kids.

I would open the door and yell, "Kaa!" and they would come.

Then we moved to Okinawa. A couple of years later, we decided that we were not going back, so we should let the apartment. I went back to Sapporo to clean the apartment. I parked my rented car and walked across the car park toward the staircase. Suddenly there was a whoosh, and I felt a light touch on my head. I looked up and the crow soared up in front of me and landed on the railing on the 2nd floor, right in front of the apartment.

It was Kaakichi!

He(she?) had remembered!

Beautiful bird and a beautiful picture.

This is an excellent photograph. That being said...

"Beautiful bird"

Yeah, one of these beautifiul birds nearly got away with a plastic bag containing my WALLET at a park the other day.

@serrano,

Yeah, these guys are actually very intelligent. I saw an older Japanese man on the crossing near Meiji Shrine. There was a crow standing on the railings. He gave this crow a dirty look and made some noises at it. As the old Japanese was walking away, the crow flew over him and tried to take his hat off; Im not making this up!

@5petals

I know yer not making that up, heck, I've been attacked by crows and it was completely unprovoked!

No, wait, I might have provoked them by putting my burnable garbage in a sturdy cardboard box on my veranda they couldn't hack through....

Ive watched them put things in the street then cars crush it so they can eat whats inside and I saw them sliding down a slide in a park before. I dont know what he was doing that for, unless it made him feel good.