Seeing a crow
Seeing a crow is an old omen with many readings, from ill news to good fortune. Crows also remember human faces, so a crow's steady stare can be a cue to consider the impressions you leave on others.
What it may mean
Crows notice people more than people notice crows. Researchers in Seattle found that wild American crows remember the face of a person who once caught them, scold that face for years and teach other crows to do the same. So a crow watching you from a wire or a lawn may really be watching you. The meeting is also a chance to think about how others remember you: the small impressions you leave on neighbors, coworkers and strangers, which last longer than the moment itself.
Depending on how you saw it
A crowd of crows at dusk
On winter afternoons, just before dark, crows often stream across the sky toward a shared roost, sometimes thousands of them in one stand of trees. They spend the day spread out in small family groups and come together only for the night. Where do you go to regroup when a long day is done, and who is there when you arrive?
A crow following you down the street
A crow that hops along a fence as you walk is often a bird that knows you, or knows that people on this route drop food. Being recognized by a wild animal is a strange feeling. It raises a small question about the habits that make you familiar on your street, and whether you would still pick them today.
A raven instead of a crow
Ravens are larger than crows, with a wedge-shaped tail and a deep croak rather than a caw, and they favor hills, coasts and open country over town lawns. Telling the two apart takes a patient eye. What in your life have you filed under a familiar label that might turn out to be something else if you looked again?
A single crow calling from the roof
A lone crow on the ridge of the roof, calling into the morning, is hard to ignore, and old omens read a great deal into exactly where it sat. Notice what the first sound of your day tends to be, and whether you would choose a different one if it were up to you.
Why it happens in nature
American crows live in family groups, and young birds often stay for a year or more to help raise the next brood. They caw to keep in touch, to warn of danger and to call others to food. In fall and winter many families join large night roosts, often in towns, where lights and warmth may make the dark hours safer.
What folk beliefs say
Japan
In Japan, a crow croaking toward a house with "jumping notes" signaled that some unexpected good fortune was close at hand.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 610. View the page
India (Hindustan)
In Hindustan it mattered where a crow came down: on the middle of the roof it was a good sign, on the ridge it signified loss. A crow that flew away cawing when you questioned it warned of misfortune.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 609. View the page
England
Brand quotes Bishop Hall's portrait of the superstitious man, who listened in the morning to whether the crow cried an even or an odd number of times and foretold the weather by it.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 210. View the page
Luxembourg
In Luxembourg, a crow screeching in a tree in front of a house was said to foretell a death in that house.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 608. View the page
To reflect on
Which of your everyday habits would a neighbor recognize you by, and is it one you would choose?