What is a group of crows called (as in "a gaggle of geese")?
The poetic term for a bunch of crows is a "murder." No scientist calls them that, only poets. Scientists would call it a flock.
[everything you ever wanted to know about crows can be found here]
http://cumv.bio.cornell.edu/mcgowan/crowfaq.htm#murder
"Flock" is correct, but only if the geese are standing around killing time. If the group of geese is flying, it becomes a "skein". If the geese are on the water, the're a "gaggle".
A "convocation" of Eagles. (Not to be confused with a convention of Eagles, who are the ones wearing hats.)
A "charm" of hummingbirds.
A "skulk" of foxes.
A "chattering" of starlings.
A "mustering" of storks.
An "unkindness" of ravens.
A "seige" of herons.
A "leap" of leopards.
A "murder" of crows.
A "sloth" of bears
Let's begin with Cub Scouts. As with geese, the group terms vary according to what the Cubs are doing. If they are meeting at someone else's house, for exmple, they are referred to as a "den". If they are meeting at your house, they are a "din" of Cub Scouts, a very important distinction, believe me! A group of den mothers, the adult leaders of Cubs, is a "frazzle". Collectively, the husbands of den mothers are "the weekly poker game."
There are different names for groups of fishermen in different situations. A group of fishemen driving out to begin a day of fishing is an "exuberance". If he day turns out to be unsuccessful, the group is variously referred to as a "sulk" or a "grumble". A group of ice fishermen is a "chatter" or a "chill", although the term "loony" is often used, particularly by wives of ice fishermen.
As a group, spouses of fishemen off on a three-day lark, or even an exaltation of larks, are variously a crash of wives, a leap of wives, and sometimes a murder of wives. Often a single wife will appear to be a whole group under these circumstances and it is all right to use the appropriate group term, if you get the chance and think it will do you any good.
Strangely, there are a few interesting group names for hunters. For example, a group of lost hunters is referred to as "a group of lost huntes," although wives will occasionally refer to such a group as a "nincompoopery". A "boast" of hunters refers to any group of hunters larger than one. A "tedium" is any group of hunters who get started talking about their first deer, first elk, or any of their other firsts, of which there are whole exaltations.
A "whiff" of skunk trappers is one of my favorite group terms, as is a "cramp" of camp cooks.
[here is a website for crow info]
www.well.com/user/crow/corvids.html
[it gets discussed on this thread]
www.bcpl.net/~tross/gnchat.html
James Lipton's "An Exaltation of Larks" is devoted to these collective nouns, many of which orignated 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
From:
http://p098.ezboard.com/fwordorigins...icID=300.topic