On Sunday, the dawn broke hot and it just got hotter. The crows in our neighborhood began complaining immediately, as they always do when the sun comes up. Their clatter gradually got louder and louder, and I went out on the porch to see what what disturbing them. From all directions, crows were flying towards the tall birch trees in the neighbor's yard behind our house. Already, a large collection was seated in the tree, bending the supple branches at the top, fluttering and bouncing around as new crows arrived. It was impossible not to feel like I was on the set of Hitchcock's "The Birds", because the soundtrack was identical!

I leashed up the dog and we went around the block to see if there was some explanation for their crow caucus, but none was to be found. The collective term "an argument of crows" seemed quite appropriate.. crows never seem to have a polite thing to say about anything. My neighbor and I, the only ones out at that early Sunday hour, wondered about earthquakes and warning signs and the ominous look of a couple hundred crows in a tree.

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