The Murder of Crows

So I'm getting off work the other night just as dusk was setting. I parked in the lot across the street so I had a bit of a stroll to get to the car. Now, I must tell you, there is this phenomenon that happens where I work: At dusk about 500 to 1200 crows swarm over the building where I work. The entire sky becomes dotted their swooping back and forth. Now, normally I am awed by this freakish happening, but as I was walking across the open parking lot, I noted the insane number of crows circling above me and became somewhat alarmed (understatement). My first reaction was still, wow, but that was quickly followed by, ut oh!

The sheer panic that I felt as my ears tuned into the very distinct SPLAT!...SPLAT!...SPLAT! splat! SPLAT! splatSPLat!splAT! AAAAAGH!!! Ok, just what do you do when you are targeted to be bird-bombed by 500+ crows!!! Which way does one go!!!?!?! What do you do?!?!?! Run? Dance? Freeze? I couldn't exactly duck for cover in an open parking lot! I held my breath (as if that would do any good) and ran to the car with my shoulders up by my ears - you know just in case one got me, then at least I wouldn't have to feel it in my ear!!

Somehow I made it through without being unpleasantly splattered, but the car I'm borrowing for the week was not so lucky. It has been riddled with brightly colored bird bullets. I think it will live. But if it dies in my care, I will blame the murder of crows. You know that's what they call it - not a flock, not a gaggle, but a murder.

I saw a post on a message board, by thenostromo, that also cited James Lipton's "An Exaltation of Larks" as devoted to the numerous appellations for a grouping of animals, many of which originated as hunters' terms and have been in the language for centuries. Here's a gleaning from his book:
A covey of partridges
A murder of crows
A rafter of turkeys
A brood of hens
A fall of woodcocks
A dule of doves
A wedge of swans
A party of jays
A company of parrots
A colony of penguins
A cover of coots
A sord of mallards
A dissimulation of birds
A peep of chickens
A pitying of turtledoves
A paddling of ducks [on the water]
A siege of herons
A charm of finches
A skein of geese [in flight]
A tidings of magpies
A cast of hawks
A deceit of lapwings
An ostentation of peacocks
A bouquet of pheasants
A congregation of plovers
An unkindness of ravens
A building of rooks
A host of sparrows
A descent of woodpeckers
A mustering of storks
A flight of swallows
A watch of nightingales
A murmuration of starlings
A spring of teal
A parliament of owls
An exaltation of larks