Corws are very intellegent and social. They live in family groups. Often last years "children" will help to prepare the nest for the new arivals and help to care for and train them once they hatch. Aunt and uncles are often also part of the family group.
As a small child, my father and I would stand on the back porch of our house listening to the crows talk to each other in the distance. He would explain to me the meaning of what they were saying. Then he would call out to them in their language. I remember being very surprised the first time we did this. On hearing his cawing, the crows would fly to us from the woods and perch in the trees carying on a conversation with him.
As an adult, I found that in nearly every place where I was living it would not be long before the local crow family would show up to welcome me. After a while it became my practice after moving to a new place that I would go out and mentally let the crows know that I was there and that I would like to "talk" with them. Over the years, I havae had many happy experiences with many crows.
On of my most extraordinary experiences, however, had nothing to do with talking to the corws. One early evening my husband and I were waiting for our daughter in large parking lot near an urban center. We were early and had quite a while to wait. It was one exciting wait! I looked above me in the sky and it was filled with crows flying from the southeast to the northwest. I was amazed at the number of them. They filled the sky. But I was to be more amazid as the minuts turnes in to nearly an hour. Wave after wave of crows continuously came flying above us. They were still flying when it was time to leave and drive home. There must have bee several thousand of them, maybe millions. I was overwhelmed at the sight.
We have a hurd of cows, a flock of chickens, a gaggle of geese, but when it comes to crows, we call it "a murder of crows".