Why the Corvid?

I like crows.  I kind of have a personal mission to redeem the reputation of the crow and raven.  I'm not exactly sure when I started liking crows, but after reading Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness and Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys I became a fan.

Fun crow facts:

• Crows can recognize human faces, not only that, but a crow can point a human out to their friends.
• They are a native species worldwide, that have thrived along with humans.  Most species that thrive in human areas are invasive, and much of their ability to thrive is because they have no natural predators. 
• They can speak human languages.  Ravens and sometimes crows can mimic human speech.  The raven at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA said, "Hello there," to me and my family.  In the book The Curve of Time, Blanchet tells a story she heard about how the Native Americans would talk with the ravens, and how a raven brought news to them that one of their people had died.
• One particular story I enjoyed, was in one of the books above, (I think Encounters with the Wise Guys) about some researches observing a crow competing for a mate against his son.  There was no fighting, but she chose his son.  The father crow flew to the neighboring territory and "married" the crow there who had just become widowed.  He essentially adopted her chicks and helped her raise them.