A few years back, my father was visiting Melbourne in Australia, when he heard a bird crowing around. So he asked an Australian lady nearby what bird that was, and she answered the crow… and my dad went on to tell her that in his country, the crow had a white collar, and sounded just like that… so the lady chuckled and said, “so you have a Nike-collar crow in your country.” So meet the Nike-collared Crow.
When I first moved to the West, I never understood why people taught of the crow as a bad bird, or rather a bird of bad omen. When I asked, they told me because of its black coat, and black feathers, and because of its cry. This sounded totally weird to me… why? Because in African culture, the crow is not a bad bird, or a bird bringing ominous news. It is actually a good bird. Not only that, but the crow is not an all-black bird, but it has a white collar. I was surprised to find this white-collared bird in Cameroon, in Rwanda, and in other places, thus telling me that the white-collared crow is indigenous to Africa.
With the white collar, isn’t your perception of the crow changed?
African Heritage 
I have never seen a bird like that before. Calling it the Nike-Collared Crow is quite funny. That’s good how a crow is considered a good bird. I’ve heard the whole bad bird omen thing in America, too. I never understood why a bird like that would be bad. A crow hasn’t done anything wrong or bad to me? Is this some kind of bird racism going on with that belief because it’s black (I’m being seriocomic here, but it does make you think).
There’s a joke somewhere about the “Just do it” slogan. Maybe if those bird were Nike shoes, they’d be Air Maxes.
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ha ha ha… I like that quote of if those birds were Nike shoes, they’d be Air Maxes…
Yes… I am not sure why people in the west consider the crow a bad omen bird… I think it has to do a lot with the color of its coat, and its cry. I once heard that said about dogs with black coats here in America… I was told that they were the least adopted among dogs in the pet shelters… I cannot confirm this, but it sounded sad.
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Thanks for appreciating my Nike joke.
I still don’t get it why that’s the case when it comes to crows. That doesn’t surprise me about dogs. I do know that’s true about black cats having being the least adopted, so I assume it still applies to dogs, too.
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I miss these white collared crows, Dr. Y. We used to see them around Nairobi when we lived there. Also called Pied Crows I think. Crows are of course among the most intelligent of birds. Definitely good birds.
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Yes… Tish… they are good birds… and should be seen as those.
Thanks for sharing… and for letting me know about sighting them in Kenya… one more country on the map… and thanks for sharing the name.
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