Crows

Crows are mangy, ugly black birds that will peck your eyes out if you give them half a chance. These scavengers form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae according to Wikipedia. Crows feature heavily in various world myths and spirituality, and as such, they have been known to make appearances in different types of television programs - particularly ones dealing with the supernatural.

In speculative fiction, the most prominent example of crows at work is the 1998-1999 syndicated dark fantasy series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven starring Mark Dacascas. The series continues the storyline set forth by the 1994 feature film The Crow, which in itself, is an adaptation of a series of graphic novels by James O'Barr. In the series, the spiritual essence of a crow is responsible for resurrecting the body and soul of murder victim Eric Draven so that he can reunite with his deceased lover, Shelly Webster. The name Draven is just a re-spelling of Raven, which is really just another fancy shmancy name for a crow.

On the CW Network television series The Vampire Diaries, vampire bad boy Damon Salvatore can command various animals and elemental effects, including summoning a crow. In the pilot episode of the show, a crow distracts motorist Bonnie Bennett and her friend Elena Gilbert, nearly causing them to crash their car on Laurel Avenue in Mystic Falls, Virginia. The same crow appears before Elena hours later at a cemetery as she is visiting the grave of her parents. She tries to shoo it away, but the stupid bird just reappears atop a different tombstone.