The sagas of Westeros, known as A Song of Ice and Fire and adapted into the wildly reknowned Game of Thrones TV series, makes frequent use of Crows and Ravens as omens, messengers and atmosphere. The foundation of the stories, plots and characters also draw heavily from real-world mythologies.  How much of this is fantasy and how much is rooted

By haythornthwaite.c Crows in Japan have long had a bad reputation, perhaps moreso than anywhere else. They are prevalent, noisy, and very commonplace but does that mean they should be regarded as vermin?  Colin Tyner, Japanese resident, does not think so. He writes, "The other day, I was looking out of my window and I spotted a large crow's nest

Raven used to be the most beautiful of birds. He had feathers like pure white snow and his song was bright and magical. Yet, he lost it all because of Man, who brought fire burning on a branch. His beautiful feathers grew black from the falling soot. His enchanting voice became hoarse from the smoke and his legs became hard

This is Kinohi, an "˜alala (Hawaiian crow) hatched in captivity 20 years ago. Growing up, he lacked other crows to socialize with, and so he developed an unusual vocabulary. But while we may find his human-like babble amusing, there is nothing funny about the fact that he will not breed. Kinohi was sent to the San Diego Zoo in 2009

Author Diane Phelps Budden witnessed firsthand the special relationship between Sedona resident Emily Cory and a raven and found it so inspiring that she has written a book for children, "Shade: A Story About a Very Smart Raven." Cory was training Shade to rescue people in the Red Rock country of Sedona and one morning, while the raven was scouring