why is it a “murder” of crows ?

Apparently a crow has 15 primary wing feathers, and a raven has 16

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.so the difference between a crow and a raven is just a matter of a pinion

Well done that man!

I’ve got a Raven primary feather, they’re pretty big, 32cm compared to 27.5cm for a carrion crow.

I think starlings are a flock, like most birds, but frankly a collective noun two or more starlings should be a squabble, because two starlings will start a fight if they’re closer together than a couple of feet! Get twenty or thirty and it’s like Celtic v Rangers game fans at final whistle.

“an HOA of Karens”

A liability of cats, as anyone who owns more than one will attest to.

Magpies should be a bully of ‘pies.

I recognise that Magpie card, that’s Jackie Morris, from the Lost Words book she did with Robert McFarlaine. Friends of mine are very good friends with Jackie, and I’ve got signed copies of the books as Christmas presents from them. She’s a wonderful artist.

But everything on there about maggies definitely applies to starlings. Noisy wretches!

An ‘effluent of politicians’.

Are we doing verbs or nouns?

I’m so confused.

A moan of camera operators.

Niche, sorry, but hilarious if you work in the industry.

Where do recognised words end and arbitrary whimsy take over?  Often when talking about an actual group of creatures people revert to the boring flock, herd etc.

Bit late to this but I’m amazed no-one has mentioned

A flange of gorillas

Just ask Gerald.

Gerald was livid when heard that term, apparently it’s a “whoop of gorillas”

I saw two crows stuck together the other day, I think that they were Velcros.

Collective noun for a group of Penguins ? A Packet

Gerald was livid when heard that term, apparently it’s a “whoop of gorillas”

That line has me in stitches every time. One of the all-time great comedy sketches.

“Wild?! I was absolutely livid!”

It is however a TROOP of gorillas and a congress or troop of baboons.
It’s a bloat of hippos and a crash of rhinos. I’m sure my nieces had some sort of wildlife game with these terms. Can’t remember the specifics but I’m sure we went through them searching for the funniest ones.