#funerals

#funerals

A passerby discovers it first - and lets out a piercing call. Within seconds, everyone in earshot rushes to the scene. It's mayhem... or so it seems. Crows are intelligent, and super chatty. They watch out for one another within tight-knit groups. As adults it's pretty rare for crows to be killed. So when one dies the others notice. Are they just scared? Or is something deeper going on.

"If people aren't laughing during my memorial, you've done it wrong," my father told us for years, long before his death. "Funerals are inherently sad; for mine, cut the treacle a bit with humor." He thought a lot about funerals. Growing up, death was a dinner table conversation at our house almost every night, because my dad was an estate planning attorney. He always protected his clients' privacy, but would bring the lessons home: Never fight with your siblings over money.