A new feature! And - - Birds.

I present to you a new feature: Nerd Alert™.

As is now readily apparent to everyone, there are times when I present myself - in the words of my sister, Galinda, and Scientist Joe, husband - as "severely intelligent." Now one might have more forewarning.

I've never known the difference between crows and ravens. This has even come up in Russian class, I remember - because apparently the only difference between them in the Russian language is that "raven" - ворон - is masculine and "crow" - ворона - is feminine. voron/vorona. Male and female equivalents of each other.

I thought it was just poetic and that the Russians had married off two black birds without the birds knowing.

BUT OH NO! The world makes sense once more. One sees -- I think I might be able to get away with "you see" in that context, so we'll try again. YOU SEE

"Crow" denotes any member of the Corvus genus (family Corvidae, order Passeriformes, class Aves), as well as naming some specific members of that genus;

and "Raven" is an umbrella term for some species within that genus. And ravens are usually bigger.

Oh - and the technical term for a group of either is "murder." My mind is all a-whirl with the quadruple entendres: look! a murder of birds! The ravens' murder! That's the most prolific murder of crows I've ever seen! Exclamation point!